The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1916-08-25

| couth. scarcely OuC VI HCL
the l,i0 0U clothes as compared with
ssaddllllnlee has produced not only
Sh spll XIV of military, and civil ne
gal Ent has furnished native-soil ar
pes, Ou' create and to perpetuate In
fists W and in marble the great events
bronze ,, ,'.lS connected with their story.
and d. ng the same amount of genius
Give n,bition, it is easy to believe
and a aha artist who seeks to portray
tho, VIZ anIor. historical details, the peo-
local ., ON. rGlI the incidents of his own par
pIe' al, anu clime and world, is better fit
''GD to do so than would be any out
Sder' ,oding this, we can but realize
\. vO4 tSe South is especially fortunate
tha ho WV the three sculptors who have
in ula materially ter and successfully con-
nlS S., l. TO solid and conspicuous COM
ttIllDpm u,ra of our Southern heroes
ne1l thS e' events surrunding them, are
s q 4S % born, and have had the In
s Susl,ol Of their own atmosphere and
ta Ddition IS AS a mother forms and
lslancaS the life of a well loved
l !llJ exulting in the task, in like
en nnor have Edward Virglnius Val
h 1.ina Sir Moses Ezekiel and Will
s sa,tItS Sewers found pleasure and hon
a a' IN presenting to the world statues
y !. HI hronze and marble that are last
d V trih,,tc to Southern deeds and
Sy TSe latest of such achievements is
~ -, Virginia Gettysburg memorial,
" its noble group of statutary at
Wv WV, has, and its serene and master
s nI frure of Lee as the crown OF its
tsanty and it's dignity, the whole the
v york. of William Sievers:
VIII The conception of this monument
,,a NV Mace in 1907, when General
I IND : L. Lomax, of Warrenton, one
= tbp commissioners of the Military
p Dark I'T at Gettysburg, attended the c.
: IA A Reunion at Norfolk, Va. There
, :, I were passed, at his sug-
,sst and with the approval Of the
Scretary of War, to erect a memorial
n Virginia's soldiers on the field OF
'' IN 1911 the Virginia State Legisla-
t,re passed a bill authorizing this
memorial. The Virginia Memoria!
Commission, consisting of William
Hodges Mann, then governor OF the
state. Col. Thomas Smith, Col. Will
liam Gordon McCabe, Major E. L.
Nmunson, and Capt. Stephen T.
Reid, was appointed to arrange for
tbe designs and erection of a suitable
monument. At the commissions in
yjation no less than forty sculptors
submitted designs and models for the
proposed memorial.
Mr.. Sewers, who at that time
a studio in New York, entered a
small model in the competition. 1t
represented Gen. Lee in uniform, sit
tng bareheaded and alert, but calm
and impressive, astride Traveller, his
fayOrite mount. At the base of the
PEDESTAL was a group of seven fig
nes, indicating the three types-cav-
airy, infantry and artillery which
composed the Army of Northern W.
ginia.
The memorial commission saw the
merit, both in the conception and exc.
rnfion of Mr. Sieyers' offering, and
that sculptor was promptly awarded
the commission. He returned at
once to Virginia and opened his house
and studio at Forest Hill Park, de-
ightful and quiet suburb of Rich
nond. After months of steady work,
the group for the base of the monu-
nent finally was finished and the Tif-
tany Studios took over the group for
casting in bronze.
The collective and individual figures
Of this group give some idea of the
terrific conditions under which Pick
cts division fought, and the almighty
purpose with which it battled is plain
y marked on the face and in the
bearing of each modelled soldier.
Of the seven characters of the
group two are youths; the one on the
extreme right is bugler Of artillery;
and the other mere boy, mounted so
Vallantly on the horse in the center,
ffeepresents a cavalry color bearer.
he carries the state flag of Virginia,
bearing the words "Sic Semper Ty-
iannis." To the right of the horse
character which suggests the
Prosperous banker, or business men,
and between him and the bugler boy
Is the farmer fighting shoulder to
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