District of Columbia

General Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, Henry Mervin Shrady, 1922
Henry M. Shrady devoted 20 years of his life to sculpting this piece, but ultimately died 2 weeks before it was dedicated in 1922. It is made up of three separate groups: Grant sitting on his horse, three artillerymen in a caisson (cart used to haul a cannon) and seven charging cavalrymen. Shrady used live models (both people and horses) when sculpting the artwork, including himself! If you look closely at the picture with the plunging horses, you can see Shrady's face in the bottom right corner next to the fallen horse. He used a mirror to sculpt himself as the fallen trooper. Shrady was very concerned about the realism of his piece. To make the sculpture of Grant as accurate as possible, he studied a plaster mask of Grant's face in the Smithsonian and learned details of Grant's personal characteristics from his father, who had attended the general in his final illness. All the other figures were either based on Shrady's friends or three cadets from West Point who modeled Civil War uniforms for him.