Major General George B. McClellan is an equestrian statue in Washington, D.C. that honors politician and Civil War general George B. McClellan. The monument is sited on a prominent location in the Kalorama Triangle neighborhood due to efforts made by area residents. The statue was sculpted by American artist Frederick William MacMonnies, a graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts whose best known work is a statue of Nathan Hale in New York City. MacMonnies was chosen to design the statue following a lengthy competition organized by a statue commission, led by then Secretary of War William Howard Taft. The monument was dedicated in 1907, with prominent attendees at the ceremony including President Theodore Roosevelt, New York City mayor George B. McClellan Jr., politicians, generals and thousands of military personnel.
The sculpture 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 bronze statue, which rests on a tall granite base adorned with emblems and bronze reliefs, is surrounded by a small public park bounded by California Street, Columbia Road and Connecticut Avenue NW. The monument and park are owned and maintained by the National Park Service, a federal agency of the Interior Department.
History
Background
George B. McClellan (1826–1885) rose to prominence as a major general during the Civil War who organized the Army of the Potomac. Although he was unsuccessful in early battles, the Union victory at the Battle of Antietam temporarily halted the Confederate invasion of the northern states. He was later removed from his post by President Abraham Lincoln, whom he unsuccessfully ran against in the 1864 presidential election. McClellan ran again for public office after the war, serving as the 24th Governor of New Jersey.
Shortly after McClellan's death in 1885, the Society of the Army of the Potomac, a fraternal organization consisting of Union veterans, began plans to erect a monument honoring the general. It wasn't until March 3, 1901, that Congress appropriated $50,000 for the erection of the statue of McClellan. The following month a statue commission, originally led by Secretary of War Elihu Root, Senator George P. Wetmore and General George D. Ruggles, was formed to oversee the project. An advisory committee, composed of sculptors Daniel Chester French and Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and architect Charles Follen McKim, was also formed to provide recommendations to the commission. A resolution adopted at one of the first commission meetings stated: "That the monument of Gen. McClellan be an equestrian statue, and that this resolution be communicated by the secretary to any commission hereinafter appointed to execute the work."
In 1902, a design competition was held at the Corcoran Gallery of Art with a bonus of $500 for each of the four sculptors who submitted the best models of the McClellan statue. Twenty-three designs were submitted by May 1, which was later narrowed down to four finalists: Austin Hays, Charles Henry Niehaus, Attilio Piccirilli and Thomas Waldo Story. The four sculptors were later asked to submit larger models for further review by the advisory committee. The model submitted by Story was favored by McClellan's widow, Nelly. In 1903, the committee rejected three of the designs, citing a lack of individuality and symbolism. The fourth design, by Niehaus, was reluctantly approved by the committee, though the commission rejected all of the designs stating "no model submitted upon the competition is satisfactory."
In August 1903, the commission chose Frederick William MacMonnies (1863–1937), an American artist and sculptor who lived in Paris, to create the statue. MacMonnies was a graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts who had apprenticed with Saint-Gaudens for four years beginning at the age of seventeen. His previous works included a statue of Nathan Hale in New York City, Columbian Fountain at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and Bacchante and Infant Faun at the Boston Public Library. MacMonnies' other well-known Civil War work is the sculptural groupings on the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch in Brooklyn, New York. After his initial design was rejected due to costs overruns, he submitted a new design to the committee, which was later approved by the officials and Nelly McClellan. The accepted design reflected the influence of MacMonnies' teacher in Paris, Alexandre Falguière, rather than Saint-Gaudens. James Crocroft was chosen to design the monument while the statue was founded by Edmond Gruet Jeune. The Society of the Army of the Potomac paid for the costs associated with improving the monument site.