page_title: Equestrian statue of Philip Sheridan
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Equestrian statue of Philip Sheridan / History / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: The memorial honoring General Philip Sheridan located in the center of Sheridan Circle in Washington, D.C. It was sculpted by Gutzon Borglum in 1908.
context_page_description: General Philip Sheridan is a bronze sculpture that honors Civil War general Philip Sheridan. The monument was sculpted by Gutzon Borglum, best known for his design of Mount Rushmore. Dedicated in 1908, dignitaries in attendance at the unveiling ceremony included President Theodore Roosevelt, members of the President's cabinet, high-ranking military officers and veterans from the Civil War and Spanish–American War. The equestrian statue is located in the center of Sheridan Circle in the Sheridan-Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The bronze statue, surrounded by a plaza and park, is one of eighteen Civil War monuments in Washington, D.C., which were collectively listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The sculpture and surrounding park are owned and maintained by the National Park Service, a federal agency of the Interior Department.
context_section_description: Philip Sheridan was a career United States Army officer who was instrumental in securing Union successes during the Valley Campaigns of 1864, most notably the Battle of Cedar Creek.  Many of the Union generals would eventually be memorialized in Washington, D.C., with statues spread throughout the city.  While looking at one of his comrade's equestrian sculptures, Sheridan was not impressed with the depiction of the man and horse.  He reportedly told his wife "Whatever you do after I'm gone, don't put me on a horse like that."  Following her husband's death in 1888, when an equestrian sculpture of her husband was being planned, Irene Sheridan insisted the horse be as "proud and courageous as its rider."
  On March 2, 1889, Congress authorized the erection of a memorial to Sheridan and appropriated $50,000 for its construction.   The original sculptor chosen to complete the project was Sheridan's friend John Quincy Adams Ward, who had completed other works in Washington, D.C., including Major General George Henry Thomas and the James A. Garfield Monument.  Ward signed a contract with the Sheridan monument commission in 1892 which called for the equestrian statue to be completed by 1898.  He submitted a sketch of the model in 1892, but that design was not approved.  Not only did Ward not complete the work by 1898, he had only completed a life-size study of Sheridan's head by 1903.  Ward finally completed a model of Sheridan, but when Irene and her son, Philip Sheridan Jr., visited Ward's studio in New York City to see the model, they both hated it.  He was depicted as a stout older officer atop a stilted horse.  The commission eventually cancelled the contract with Ward in 1905.  His model of Sheridan was eventually cast in 1916 and stands in front of the New York State Capitol.
  Gutzon Borglum had closely followed the events surrounding Ward's procrastination and firing as the two men had an argumentative past.  Borglum was convinced he could do a better job with the design and he also needed the money.  He set out to study as much as possible about Sheridan's life by reading his memoirs and biographies.  Borglum was able to secure an invitation to a Washington, D.C. party that Irene attended.  He sat next to her and invited Irene to his studio in New York.  Borglum set out models of horses throughout the studio before she arrived and surprised Irene by how much he know about her husband.  At the behest of Irene, on July 2, 1907, Borglum received a contract to sculpt the memorial.  He was a Danish American artist who was greatly influenced by French sculptor Auguste Rodin.  Borglum is best known for his carvings at Mount Rushmore and Stone Mountain.  The Sheridan sculpture is his only equestrian monument in Washington, D.C.  Borglum's other works in Washington, D.C. include Rabboni at Rock Creek Cemetery and several statues in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol.
  On January 17, 1908, Borglum's design received approval by the Sheridan monument commission, including then-Secretary of War William Howard Taft, General Henry C. Corbin, and Brigadier General Michael V. Sheridan, Philip Sheridan's brother.  Irene also approved the design and chose the memorial site.
  She lived at 2211 Massachusetts Avenue NW (currently offices for the Embassy of Greece), a short distance from Sheridan Circle and the sculpture.  As Borglum worked on the sculpture, he would talk to Sheridan's friends, sketch Sheridan's artifacts, and visit Irene.  Since Philip Jr. bore a very close resemblance to his father, Borglum used him as a model for the sculpture.  When the artwork was completed, Irene, Philip Jr., and Sheridan's three daughters loved the finished result.  The sculpture depicts Sheridan riding his horse, Rienzi, as he assembles his troops during the Battle of Cedar Creek on October 19, 1864.  He had raced 20 miles (32 km) from Winchester, Virginia, to reach the battle.  Following the Union victory, Sheridan renamed the horse Winchester.  After Winchester died in 1878, Sheridan had him preserved and mounted.  The h
caption: Closeup of the statue
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