State of Virginia Monument (Gettysburg)
Also Known As: Robert E. Lee Monument
Battlefield: Gettysburg National Military Park, Pennsylvania
Location: West Confederate Ave
Map Coordinates: +39° 48' 50.76", -77° 15' 1.08"
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Monument Text
- "Virginia to her sons at Gettysburg"
Monument Details
Artist: Sievers, Frederick William, sculptor; Tiffany and Company, founder; Van Amringe Granite Company, fabricator.
Dedicated: June 8, 1917 (Commissioned March 9, 1908. Cast 1912. Installed 1913.)
Dimensions: Sculpture: H. 14 ft.; Pedestal: H. 28 ft.; Total Height: 42 ft.
Description: A three-stepped Mt. Airy granite base supports a pedestal on which a bronze statue of General Robert E. Lee astride his favorite horse, Traveller stands. General Lee holds the horse's reins in his proper left hand and holds his hat in his proper right hand. Below Lee as he studies the distant Union lines are a bronze group of seven Confederate soldiers. In this group, the central figure is an equestrian soldier holding a Confederate flag. To the left of him are two soldiers with rifles standing guard, and one soldier aiming a pistol. To the right of him is a soldier swinging a bayonet, a soldier about to aim his rifle, and a soldier blowing a bugle. According to the marker at the base of the monument, "The group represents various types who left civil occupations to join the Confederate Army. Left to right; a professional man, a mechanic, an artist, a boy, a business man, a farmer, a youth."
Cost: $50,000.00 (June 1917)
Remarks
The Virginia monument was the first of the Confederate State monuments at Gettysburg. It was unveiled by Miss Virginia Carter, a niece of Robert E. Lee.
It is also the largest of the Confederate monuments, a fitting tribute for the state that provided the largest contingent to the Army of Northern Virginia, its commander, and its name. Lee's figure, topping the monument astride his favorite horse, Traveller, was created by sculptor Frederick Sievers from photographs and life masks of the general. He even went to Lexington, Virginia to study Traveller's skeleton, preserved at Washington and Lee University.
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Additional Photos
Statue of Robert E. Lee,
© Michael Kendra
Lower Grouping of Statues,
© Michael Kendra
Winter Snowfall Jan. 2002,
© Michael Kendra
Morning Sun on Snowy Monument, Jan. 2002,
© Michael Kendra
Battlefield Location Map
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