The Lincoln Monument in Memory of Scottish-American Soldiers

The Lincoln Monument in Memory of Scottish-American Soldiers

Funded by a prominent group of Scottish-Americans – organized by then-U.S. Consul in Edinburgh, Wallace Bruce, and including philanthropist Andrew Carnegie – this monument was dedicated in Edinburgh's Old Calton Cemetery on 21 August 1893. Ostensibly erected to commemorate the participation of six Scottish-American soldiers in the Civil War, and in defence of the Union cause, the monument's artistic focus prioritizes an emancipatory rather than a military narrative. Featuring a bronze sculpture of Abraham Lincoln atop a red marble plinth, the composition is notable for sculptor George E. Bissell's inclusion of a bronze figure of an African American man, his arms outstretched towards Lincoln, at the plinth's base and at the visitor's level.

Stewart McGlashen and Son

1892-07-25

ket4@st-andrews.ac.uk

Site

2132

1890-01-01

1893-08-21

m x m x m

[Bruce, Wallace], The Lincoln Monument in Memory of Scottish-American Soldiers, unveiled in Edinburgh, August 21st, 1893 (Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood, 1893) [available online: https://archive.org/details/lincolnmonument1621scot/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater] City of Edinburgh Council, Peter McGowan, 'Edinburgh Survey of Gardens and Designed Landscapes: 181, Old Calton Burying Ground' (July 2007), https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/downloads/file/23014/old-calton-burial-ground Hurley, Caroline, 'Lincoln in Scotland: A Gift of the Gilded Age', American Studies Journal, No. 60 (2016) [available online: http://www.asjournal.org/60-2016/lincoln-scotland-gift-gilded-age/] Public Monuments and Sculpture Association, 'War Memorial (19th Century)', Canmore: National Record of the Historic Environment (2007), https://canmore.org.uk/site/117416/edinburgh-waterloo-place-old-calton-burial-ground-american-civil-war-memorial

current,55.95369783083823,-3.186198071274448;

Free access

George E. Bissell

United Kingdom

The Lincoln Monument in Memory of Scottish-American Soldiers

https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/downloads/file/23014/old-calton-burial-ground

TEXT

https://www.cineg.org/wiki/index.php/The_Lincoln_Monument_in_Memory_of_Scottish-American_Soldiers

Local Council

Daily, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

City of Edinburgh Council

Statue – emancipation

Scottish-American Soldiers' Monument Committee (Henry R. Heath, Chairman; Wallace Bruce; Frances H. Wilson)

Donations from 63 subscribers, 61 from the U.S. and 2 from the UK

City of Edinburgh Council

Bronze,Granite

On the four sides of the base below the statue of Abraham Lincoln (raised bronze letters): EMANCIPATION / EDUCATION / UNION / SUFFRAGE On the east face of the pedestal, to the right of the slave (incised letters): "TO PRESERVE / THE JEWEL OF LIBERTY / IN THE FRAMEWORK OF / FREEDOM" / ABRAHAM LINCOLN On the east face of the pedestal, below the slave (incised letters): IN MEMORY OF SCOTTISH-AMERICAN SOLDIERS. On the west face of the pedestal (incised letters): UNVEILED 21ST OCTOBER 1893 On the north face of the pedestal (incised letters): SERGEANT MAJOR JOHN McEWAN / CO. H. 65TH REGT. ILLINOIS VOL. INFANTRY. / WILLIAM L. DUFF / LT. COL. 2ND ILLINOIS REGT. OF ARTILLERY. / ROBERT STEEDMAN / CO. E. 5TH REGT. MAINE INFANTRY VOLUNTEERS. / JAMES WILKIE / CO. C. 1ST MICHIGAN CAVALRY. / ROBERT FERGUSON / CO. F. 57TH REGT. NEW YORK INFANTRY VOLUNTEERS. On the south face of the pedestal (incised letters): ALEXANDER SMITH / CO. G. 66TH REGT. NEW YORK VOLUNTEER INFANTRY [added 1993 for monument's re-dedication] Signatures : On bronze base by Lincoln's right foot (incised letters): Geo. E. Bissell Sct. 1893

City of Edinburgh Council

$6300

Midlothian

Other

Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Cemetery