''The Victorious Charge'' is a

public artwork Public art is art in any media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and physically acces ...

by American artist John S. Conway located on the Court of Honor on West Wisconsin Avenue in downtown

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The 1898 bronze sculpture is 9'10" high and sits on a 20' square

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

pedestal.

Description

Conway's sculpture is the most important nineteenth century

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

monument in Wisconsin.Please Help Save The Victorious Charge
''Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War,'' Department of Wisconsin. Four Union soldiers cast in bronze are caught in action, moving forward to victory. One of the soldiers has fallen and supports himself on his left arm, while grasping a piece of the flag staff in his right hand. A young private holds the flag high while stepping over the dying soldier. An officer with a pistol in one hand and a drawn sword in the other continues forward, while another private leans forward holding a bayonet. There are various inscriptions on the work. The front of the base reads:
''TO. THOSE. WHO. FOUGHT. IN. THE. WAR. FOR. THE. UNION. 1861-1865
ERECTED.1898''.
The front lower left side of the sculpture reads
''JOHN S. CONWAY SCULPTOR''
and the back lower right reads
''FOND CRESCENZI ROMA 1898''.

History

Before ''The Victorious Charge'', the standard for Civil War monuments was an idealized portrait of a soldier or an equestrian portrait of an officer. Conway revolutionized the Civil War memorial by depicting a realistic looking group of soldiers in action. His sculpture exudes energy and movement, faithfully capturing the intensity and horrors of battle.Buck, Diane M. and Virginia A. Palmer (1995).''Outdoor Sculpture in Milwaukee: A Cultural and Historical Guidebook'', p. 61, The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison. Thirteen years passed from the moment that Alexander Mitchell agreed to finance a Civil War monument for the city of Milwaukee and the moment when Conway's sculpture was dedicated. Mitchell had not yet decided on a design for the monument when he died in 1887. His son, US senator John Mitchell, agreed to continue financing the project with the help of the Soldier's Memorial Committee. They decided on a design, but the financial panic of 1893 halted the project. Lydia Ely Hewitt, John S. Conway's friend, stepped in and devised different ways to raise the $30,000 necessary to erect the monument. She and other women held various fund-raising events including Miss Ely's famous autograph book. As a final effort, she collected autographs from "famous Americans in government, science, art, and literature and compiled them into a giant autograph book two feet wide and two feet thick, with over 2,000 signatures, and with Conway's ''The Victorious Charge'' sketched on the title page. When the book was completed, Ely auctioned the single volume to Captain

Frederick Pabst Johann Gottlieb Friedrich "Frederick" Pabst (March 28, 1836 – January 1, 1904) was a German-American brewer for whom the Pabst Brewing Company was named. Biography Early life Pabst was born on March 28, 1836, in the village of Nikolausrieth ...

, the city's most prominent brewer, to complete the fundraising." Conway was thus able to complete his sculpture, which he had cast in bronze by the Crescenzi Foundry in Rome and sent across the Atlantic to Milwaukee. The dedication of ''The Victorious Charge'' took place on June 28, 1898, coinciding with a four-day carnival celebrating the Golden Jubilee of Wisconsin's entry into the Union. Tens of thousands of visitors came to Milwaukee for the events. A band played "

Marching Through Georgia "Marching Through Georgia" (sometimes spelled as "Marching Thru' Georgia" or "Marching Thro Georgia") is a marching song written by Henry Clay Work at the end of the American Civil War in 1865. The title and lyrics of the song refer to U.S. Ar ...

" as Lydia Ely unveiled the sculpture, and Mayor David S. Rose accepted the monument on behalf of the city. Although the sculpture was badly rusted, a complete restoration was completed in September 2003. In 2014, the Westown Association announced a fundraiser to raise $100,000 to restore the Court of Honor statues, including The Victorious Charge, the

Washington Monument The Washington Monument is an obelisk shaped building within the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, once commander-in-chief of the Continental Army (1775–1784) in the American Revolutionary War and th ...

and the Spanish–American War Soldier. The restored statue of Washington was unveiled in January 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Victorious Charge 1898 establishments in Wisconsin 1898 sculptures Articles containing video clips Bronze sculptures in Wisconsin Military monuments and memorials in the United States Monuments and memorials in Wisconsin Outdoor sculptures in Milwaukee Sculptures of men in Wisconsin Statues in Wisconsin