The Farragut monument at the north end of Madison Square Park in Manhattan is, according to the New York City Parks Department, “one of the finest outdoor monuments in New York City. Its creation was a collaboration of two of the finest artistic spirits of their age, sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens and architect Stanford White.” The statue is near 26th Street and Fifth Avenue. It is free to view.
Admiral David Farragut was one of the most prominent heroes of the Civil War. A Southerner by birth, he fought to defeat the Confederacy. Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, he resided in Norfolk, Virginia before the Civil War. Beginning in 1862, he was assigned important roles in dismembering the Confederacy. That year he led the naval forces in conquering New Orleans, the biggest city in the South. This cut the western Confederacy from using that port to trade with the rest of the world. Congress rewarded him for his victory by appointing him the first rear admiral in U.S. Navy history. In 1864, Farragut won the Battle of Mobile Bay, This was a heavily defended port in Alabama and Farragut was hailed for his tactics and his bravery. Lincoln then appointed him Vice Admiral of the Navy, the highest rank of any naval officer. On July 25, 1866 he was the first naval officer ever to be promoted to full admiral. Farragut died from a heart attack in 1870 at the age of 69. He served 60 years in the Navy.
Farragut lived outside New York City at Hastings-On-Hudson and he was laid to rest at Greenlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.
The statue was made by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The Irish-born Saint-Gaudens had immigrated with his family from Dublin as a young child. His mother was Irish and his father was a Frenchman who had moved to Dublin. The family moved away from Ireland because of the Great Famine. Saint-Gaudens’s family made a good living as a lower middle class merchant family in New York. When Saint-Gaudens became interested in sculpture, he could not afford to study art. Instead he apprenticed himself to work for other sculptors.
In 1875, when a committee to commission the building of the Farragut statue opened a competition, Saint-Gaudens submitted his proposal. It was rejected and the award went to John Quincy Adams Ward, Ward was the most famous American public sculptor at the time. Ward declined the commission and suggested the committee needed to accept Saint-Gaudens proposal.
The Irishman was only in his twenties and he was going to place his statue on a plain block pedestal. However, one day in his work he was singing something from Beethoven. Stanford White, a young architect heard him and knocked on Saint-Gaudens’s door. When he found out that the singer was a sculptor, he asked about whether he could propose an innovative base for the statue.
White would later create plans for some of Americas most popular buildings, including Madison Square Garden. He also had a notorious sex life which may have included the rape of a teenaged girl.
Saint-Gaudens accepted White’s help.
The statue is made of bronze and Farragut is eight feet, five inches tall.
The base is carved to suggest the sea. Each of the two Exedra sides has an allegorical woman. On the west side is inscribed:
“That the memory of a daring and sagacious commander and gentle great-souled man whose life from childhood was given to his country but who served her supremely in the War for the Union 1861-1865 may be preserved and honored and that they who come after him and who will owe him so much may see him as he was seen by friend and foe his countrymen have set up this monument A.D. 1881.”
On the east side is inscribed:
“Born near Knoxville, Tennessee, July 5, 1801. Midshipman 1810. Battle of Essex and Phoebe March 28, 1814. Lieutenant 1825. Commander 1841. Captain 1855. Battle of New Orleans April 25, 1862. Rear Admiral 1862. Battle of Mobile Bay August 5, 1864. Vice Admiral December 23, 1864. First Admiral of the United States of America July 26, 1866. Died at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, August 14, 1870.”
The original base was made of bluestone. It weathered badly and by the time of the Depression it was replaced by a granite copy constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
Saint-Gaudens became very well known after completing the Farragut statue. He went on to create the Shaw and 54th Massachusetts monument in Boston and the gold General Sherman monument at the Plaza in Manhattan.
The text on the base was written by Stamford White’s father.
The Farragut statue differed from earlier Civil War monuments because it showed a man in realistic motion. It also differed because it was the result of a close collaboration between the sculptor and the architect.
The statue shows Farragut on a ship with his field glasses at the ready. His jacket is blowing in the wind. His pants even show the impact of his motion during the battle.
Farragut’s face shows an anxious, intelligent expression.
In the photo above you can see one of the female figures. One is Courage and the other is Loyalty. Of course Farragut was well-know for his loyalty especially after the two states, Virginia and Tennessee, had left the Union.
There are scenes reminiscent of the sea on the base, like this crab.
Madison Square Park was where Madison Square Garden used to be. The park is adorned with Civil War statuary, a fountain, and many features carefully preserved from more than one hundred years ago. The pool in the photo below is centered around an ancient fountain.
Tens of thousands of people walk through this park every day. The congregate around the fountain or sit for a few minutes under shade trees on benches.
The base of the monument includes a carved bench where many workers in nearby offices sit, eat lunch, or play with their kids or dogs.
Note: All color photos in this post were taken by Patrick Young except as noted.
