Location

Just northeast of Hillen Road & E Cold Spring Lane on Morgan State’s campus

GPS: 39° 20′ 49.27″ N 76° 35′ 2.91″ W

History

The idea to erect a Frederick Douglass statue on the campus of Morgan State University was conceived in 1943. The notion was presented to and carried out by the Maryland Educational Association. Artist James E. Lewis was chosen to design the monument, an associate professor at the university, Lewis was the obvious choice for the project. By 1956 the memorial was completed and unveiled in front of the school’s Holmes Hall, a building named for Morgan’s first black president, Dwight O. W. Holmes

Notes

The eight-foot tall bronze cast stands in a high traffic area of campus directly north of the school’s stadium. Douglass is shown in a dignified stance with a cane in his right hand (the cane given to him by Abraham Lincoln’s widow, Mary Todd). A second monument to the great orator can be found at the Frederick Douglass Isaac Myers Maritime Park at Harbor East.

Nearby

• Columbus Obelisk
• Policeman’s Memorial in Lauraville
• Martin Luther

Links

• On Panoramio & Flickr
• Douglass on Wikipedia

Location

South Caroline Street & Philpot Street (Street View)

GPS: 39° 16′ 45.60″ N 76° 35′ 46.80″ W

History

One of the most important figures in American civil rights, Frederick Douglass spent his honorable life defending human liberties, including his own. Born a slave in Talbot County, Maryland, Douglass was passed around between owners for most of his early life. He began learning to read at an early age from the white children in his neighborhoods and from Sophia Auld, the wife of his Baltimore owner, Hugh Auld. Douglass began reading newspapers at the age of twelve, helping to form the basis of his ideas of liberty at a young age. Constantly angering his owners through his courage and knowledge, he was shipped off to a rural farm run by a man know for “breaking slaves”. Here, at the age of sixteen, Frederick’s spirit was crushed until he finally fought back against his enemy. He won the fight and began planning his escape, eventually succeeding through the help of the Underground Railroad. He immediately joined abolitionist groups and began writing and making speeches. His autobiography, published in 1845, was a major success and his status as leading man for his numerous causes was established.

Notes

The memorial bust is placed on the grounds of the newly opened Frederick Douglass Isaac Myers Maritime Park. The park is part of the Living Classrooms project and is located at the site of the first African-American owned and operated shipyard in the United States. Douglass worked at these docks during his early years in Baltimore. The statue sits right on the dock and is constructed in sections. The artist Marc Andre Robinson created the work and it was installed in 2006. A second Douglass monument is located on the campus of Morgan State University.

Nearby

• Katyn Memorial
• Christopher Columbus at Columbus Center

Links

• On Panoramio & Flickr
• The Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park

Location

N Charles Street & University Parkway (Street View)

GPS: 39° 19′ 59.71″ N 76° 37′ 6.07″ W

History

Donated by the State of Maryland, this monument is by J. Maxwell Miller, the artist behind the Star-Spangled Banner Centennial Monument. The memorial depicts two stoic women, one of whom is standing looking off into the distance, while the other kneels down clutching the body of a fallen soldier who has dropped his flag. The inscription reads, “In difficulty and danger, regardless of self, they fed the hungry, clothed the needy, nursed the wounded and comforted the dying.”

Notes

The Confederate Women monument is one of several in the city of Baltimore dedicated to the Civil War, including: Union Soldiers & Sailors, Spirit of the Confederacy, and Lee & Jackson.

Nearby

• Peace Cross
• Sidney Lanier
• Creator’s Game

Links

• On Panoramio & Flickr
• A Baltimore City Paper article which mentions the Confederate Women monument
• Smithsonian entry

Location

Saint Paul Street & E Monument Street (Street View)

GPS: 39° 17′ 51.29″ N 76° 36′ 50.95″ W

History

The Severn Teackle Wallis monument at Mount Vernon Place stands dignified as it looks east down Monument Street. Directly west is George Peabody with Washington and the rest of his monumental friends looming behind the two. Wallis stands with his right hand on a pedestal covered with some of his papers, and is depicted with his trademark mustache and long sideburns. One of the premiere lawyers of his generation, Severn Teackle was elected to the Maryland Legislature in 1861, where he proceeded to lead a faction of politicians opposed to the Civil War. The Federal Government, under the direction of Lincoln, swooped in on a September evening that year and imprisoned Mr. Wallis for his apparent transgressions. He was thrown in jail for fourteen months at various Union fortresses, yet he was never informed of the crime he committed. Upon his release he wrote a lengthy correspondence to Senator John Sherman explaining his displeasure with the situation, continuing his crusade for civil liberties.

Wallis was also a writer, penning literature throughout his long and storied life. His Glimpses of Spain and Discourse on the Life and Character of George Peabody are his most famous works and are still in print today. He wrote poetry as well and is highly regarded for his careful use of language and positive sentiment. Two of his most well-known poems are The Last of Hours and The Blessed Hand. Wallis was also an avid collector of literature and owned one of the first editions of Don Quixote in the United States. In 1877, he donated the volume to the Peabody Library.

Notes

On the fourth floor of the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. Courthouse is another memorial to Mr. Wallis. The memorial consists of a bronze bust, a copy of William Rinehart’s work, atop a marble structure with a young woman reaching upwards with a laurel branch. The pair of Wallis monuments, along with various streets and locations bearing his name, create an important historical reference to one of Maryland’s great men. The Mount Vernon Place monument, dedicated in 1906, is by artist is Laurent Honore Marqueste.

Nearby

• George Peabody
• Washington Monument
• Roger Taney
• John Eager Howard (Mt Vernon)
• Lafayette
• Sea Urchin (JHU)
• Military Courage Statue
• Pope John Paul II
• James Cardinal Gibbons

Links

• On Panoramio & Flickr
• Wallis on Wikipedia

Location

North Mount Vernon Place (Street View)

GPS: 39° 17′ 52.60″ N 76° 36′ 56.62″ W

History

Roger Brooke Taney was the fifth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America, and is most historically noted for authoring the Dred Scott Decision (Dred Scott v. Sanford), which ruled that “…slaves could not win freedom by escaping to a free state and that no black person could be a U.S. citizen,” and which is considered an indirect cause of the Civil War. Taney was, presumably, operating under a conceptual framework of dual federalism, in which individual states were seen as sovereign and separate from the federal government. Before being appointed to the Supreme Court under Andrew Jackson, Taney also served as Attorney General for his home state of Maryland and was the twelfth Attorney General of the United States. He also notably kept a home in Frederick, MD where he practiced law with his partner Francis Scott Key, who authored the National Anthem. Taney died during the final months of the Civil War on the same day that Maryland abolished slavery. President Lincoln made no public statement regarding Taney’s death or career. In 1865, controversy raged over the creation of a memorial bust of Taney to be displayed along with the four other chief justices who preceded him. Congress rejected the proposal and Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner proposed that a vacant spot be left in Taney’s space. In 1873 when Taney’s successor, Salmon Chase, died, Congress finally appropriated funds for both busts to be displayed in the Capitol. A statue of Justice Taney resides outside the Maryland State House, and Baltimore’s exquisite monument to this complicated figure is a re-cast of that 1871 sculpture by William Henry Rinehart. It was donated to the city by the Walters family in 1887.

Notes

Taney is situated just north of the Washington Monument proper, in a sunny location. He faces south and to his left you can see the elegantly beautiful spire of Mount Vernon Place Methodist Church, a building “…named by the American Institute of Architects as the most significant in the city of Baltimore.”

Nearby

• Washington Monument (Mt Vernon)
• Marquis de Lafayette
• Severn Teackle Wallis
• John Eager Howard (Mt Vernon)
• George Peabody
• Sea Urchin (Mt Vernon)
• Military Courage Statue
• Pope John Paul II
• James Cardinal Gibbons

Links

• On Panoramio & Flickr
• Taney on Wikipedia
• Taney on Findagrave
• Taney monument on Smithsonian sculpture index
• City Paper article on Baltimore monuments, with info on Taney

Location

Art Museum Drive & Wyman Park Drive (Street View)

GPS: 39° 19′ 27.48″ N 76° 37′ 11.65″ W

History

Dedicated on May 1st, 1948, this monument is by artist Laura Gardin Fraser and was paid for by the $100,000 left in J. Henry Ferguson’s will, who idolized the Confederate generals as a youth. Ferguson died in 1928, a design contest was held in 1935 and Fraser won the commission. Architect John Russell Pope created the base and the dedication took place on the anniversary of the eve of the Battle of Chancellorsville (1863). On April 18th of 1861, as Civil War hostilities heated up, Lee turned down an offer to become a major general in the US Army, resigned two days later and took up leadership of the Virginia state forces on April 23. General Lee was appointed general-in-chief to the Confederate army on January 31st, 1865. He was quickly named one of the five full generals of the Confederate States of America, but refused to wear the insignia of general, instead wearing the stars of a confederate colonel, equivalent to his last rank in the US Army. Lee is depicted in this double equestrian monument astride his famed horse, Traveller. Stonewall Jackson (depicted astride “Little Sorrel”) is considered by some to be “one of the most gifted tactical commanders in United States history.” Jackson was accidentally shot by Confederate pickets during the Battle of Chancellorsville. His left arm was amputated but he survived for eight days, at which point he died due to complications of pneumonia. Upon hearing the news, Lee is said to have pronounced, “He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right.” Completion of this monument was held up by the onset of WWII, and there is a note inscribed on the base thanking the business partners for honoring pre-war contracts and pricing of materials.

Notes

This statue rests at a beautiful high-traffic geographic location within the Remington/Charles Village neighborhoods. The land slopes southward dramatically behind the figures down to the valley of Wyman Park. According to the sculptor, the geography itself mimics the conditions at Chancellorsville. The Baltimore Museum of Art is visible just up the street. This monument is extremely well-kept and one may often find memorial wreaths and other artifacts laid around its base. Each year, Civil War reenactors meet to commemorate the birthdays of Lee and Jackson on January 19, 1807 and January 21, 1824 respectively. Until recently, the Clipper Room at Shriver Hall on Johns Hopkins campus was rented out for post-celebration festivities. But the annual rental has been disallowed by Hopkins’ new president. A writer for the Maryland Record has even called for this extraordinay historical statue to be razed on account of the Confederate ideals which it commemorates.

Nearby

• Harris Bust
• Union Soldiers’ & Sailors
• Sea Urchin Statue – JHU

Links

• On Panoramio & Flickr
• Smithsonian entry

Location

W 29th Street & N Charles Street (Street View)

GPS: 39° 19′ 25.64″ N 76° 37′ 4.17″ W

History

This work, by Adolphe A. Weiman, was dedicated in 1909, and originally sat in Druid Hill Park (which may be what is depicted in this postcard). It was moved to its current location in 1959 to make way for an expressway. The monument depicts a Union soldier striding forward with the Goddess Victory to his right and the Goddess Bellona (War) to his left. Behind Bellona rises a fig tree. Reliefs on the south and north sides of the base, respectively, depict a naval battle and an land battle with infantry and cavalry.

Notes

Union Sailors & Soldiers has the distinction of being the only public Civil War monument in the city to pay homage to the Northern/Union sacrifices made during that conflict. Diagonally north-east across Wyman Park, on Art Museum Drive is the double-equestrian Jackson-Lee memorial. Not far from that is the Confederate Women monument to the north across Hopkins campus. And then you have the Spirit of the Confederacy right in Bolton Hill.

Nearby

• Lee & Jackson
• Chapin Harris Bust

Links

• On Panoramio and Flickr
• Smithsonian entry
• Wikipedia list of Soldiers & Sailors monuments in other cities

Location

Mount Royal Terrace between Mosher & Lafayette (Street View)

GPS: 39° 18′ 31.75″ N 76° 37′ 21.03″ W

History

Also known as the “Spirit of the Confederacy,” this monument reads upon the front face of the pedestal, “Gloria Victis,” or “Glory to the Vanquished.” Though this sculpture is by Frederic Wellington Ruckstull and was dedicated in February of 1903, “Gloria Victis” is also the title of a 1874 sculpture at the National Gallery in Washington, DC by artist Antonin Mercie commemorating France’s loss in the Franco-Prussian War. Mercie is the sculptor responsible for the nearby Francis Scott Key monument in Bolton Hill.

Notes

The monument stands between Mt Royal Avenue proper, and Mt Royal Terrace, a parallel access street for residents of the Bolton Hill neighborhood. Nearby stand several buildings of the Maryland Institute, College of Art. The sculpture is composed of two figures: the allegorical figure of Glory with wings outstretched, who holds aloft a laurel wreath in one hand, and in the other supports a soldier whose strength is failing him. His flag is lowered and he seems near defeat.

Nearby

• Watson Memorial
• Francis Scott Key in Bolton Hill
• Maryland Line Monument
• WWI Medal of Honor Winners

Links

• On Panoramio & Flickr
• Photograph of Monument’s erection on MDHS
• Two entries for this monument at the Smithsonian index, the second being more complete
• “Battling Monuments“, an overview of Civil War monuments by the City Paper

Location

3436 N Charles Street on the eastern edge of Johns Hopkins University’s Campus (Street View)

GPS: 39° 19′ 52.45″ N 76° 37′ 5.19″ W

History

Born in 1842, Sidney Lanier’s life was forever shaped by the Civil War. Upon graduating Oglethorpe College in Milledgeville, Georgia, the War Between the States broke out and Lanier enlisted in the Confederate Army. He was captured by Union soldiers near Wilmington, North Carolina, and placed at Point Lookout Prison in Saint Mary’s County, Maryland. Lookout was by far the worst Union POW camp, with bitter cold conditions and no barracks, the captured soldiers and civilians died by the scores. Of the fifty thousand detainees, some four thousand perished, and countless others contracted tuberculosis. Lanier was not spared, and he left the jail skinny and emaciated, bound to suffer from consumption for the rest of his short life. Lanier wrote his only novel, Tiger Lilies, about his tumultuous time at Point Lookout. After the Civil War he traveled extensively in search of a cure for his disease, eventually landing in Baltimore, where he was asked to fill the first flute chair in the newly formed Peabody Orchestra. In a letter to his wife, he expounds on the benefits of Charm City, explaining that they could “dwell in [this] beautiful city, among the great libraries, and [in the] midst of the music, the religion, and the art that we love–and I could write my books and be the man I wish to be.” He continued creating poetry and literary papers, writing some of his most loved pieces while in Baltimore. Towards the end of his life, Lanier took a teaching position at Johns Hopkins University. He passed away in 1881 and is buried in Green Mount Cemetery. In 1942, a monument designed by Hans Schuler was dedicated in his honor.

Notes

The relief style monument depicts Lanier sitting tranquilly under a tree as the sun sets behind him. He is holding a pencil in his right hand and has a journal on his lap. His flute rests next to him on top of an open book. The bronze cast is set into a stone embankment, making this one of the more unique memorials in the city. There are two benches flanking the monument, and a stone path between them, allowing for an intimate view of the structure.

Nearby

• Johns Hopkins Monument
• The Spirit of Music

Links

• A brief history by Christopher T George
• Sidney Lanier on Wikipedia
• On Panoramio & Flickr

Location

Saratoga Street and St. Paul Street (Street View)

GPS: 39° 17′ 32.95″ N 76° 36′ 49.24″ W

History

Depicts John Mifflin Hood, Confederate general and early president of the Western Maryland Railroad. Under Hood’s guidance the railroad was able to regain market share, becoming very profitable. Baltimore City owned considerable stock in the company, resulting in massive profit. After the great fire of 1904, the city used six million dollars of railroad earnings to pay for reconstruction. In appreciation, a monument was erected, one block from the origin of the fire, in Mifflin Hood’s honor. It was later moved to it’s current location in Preston Park. Dedicated May 11, 1911. Artist, Richard E. Brooks.

Notes

Hood’s monument is tucked away in a park known as Preston Gardens which lies in between St. Paul Street’s north and south-bound lanes. The monument is flanked on either side by a fountain and winding staircases connect the upper and lower sections of St. Paul. Curving sidewalks flow throughout this surprisingly placid location.

Nearby

• Cecilius Calvert Statue
• Battle Monument

Links

• Smithsonian’s Arts Inventory Catalog entry
• Information on Hood’s railroad under “The Rise of Tourism”
• Alice W. Hood Collection At Maryland Historical Society
• On Panoramio & Flickr