Speaker: Gene Schmiel

THE CIVIL WAR IN STATUARY HALL

Statuary Hall was created during the Civil War to fill the space left by the House of Representatives when it moved to its current chambers. The year before, the “Statue of Freedom” was emplaced atop the Capitol Dome. Justin Morrill’s legislation invited each state to honor two of its citizens by providing representative statues. The first statue was placed in 1870 by Rhode Island celebrating Revolutionary War Hero Nathanial Greene. Until 2003, all but one of the original statues (William Jennings Bryan’s of Nebraska, emplaced in 1937, was replaced in 2019 by Indian chief Standing Bear), were undisturbed in place. However, the dawn of the 21st century and the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War brought renewed attention to the issue.

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