''Robert E. Lee on Traveller'' (also known as ''General Robert E. Lee and Confederate Soldier'', and ''Robert E. Lee and Young Soldier'') is a

bronze sculpture Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as well as bronze elemen ...

Alexander Phimister Proctor Alexander Phimister Proctor (September 27, 1860 – September 5, 1950) was an American sculptor with the contemporary reputation as one of the nation's foremost animaliers. Birth and early years Proctor was born on September 27, 1860 in Bo ...

depicting the Confederate general of the same name, his horse

Traveller Traveler(s), traveller(s), The Traveler(s), or The Traveller(s) may refer to: People Generic terms *One engaged in travel *Explorer, one who searches for the purpose of discovery of information or resources *Nomad, a member of a community withou ...

, and a young

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

officer, formerly installed at

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

' Turtle Creek Park, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. The statue was unveiled by President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

in 1936, removed in 2017, and sold by the city for $1,435,000 to a law firm. It now stands on a Texan golf course.

Description

The double

equestrian statue An equestrian statue is a statue of a rider mounted on a horse, from the Latin ''eques'', meaning ' knight', deriving from ''equus'', meaning 'horse'. A statue of a riderless horse is strictly an equine statue. A full-sized equestrian statue is ...

depicts

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...

riding his horse

, and a young

soldier astride a horse. The

measures approximately 9 × 12 × 5 ft (3 × 4 × 1.5 m) and rests on a Texas pink granite base that measures approximately 6 ft. × 12 ft. 6 in. × 6 ft (2 × 4 × 2 m) and weighs 7 tons. An inscription on the front of the base reads, "Robert E. Lee". Inscriptions on the base's sides read "A.P. PROCTOR – 1936", "A. Phimister Proctor, Sculptor/Mark Lemmon, Architect", and "Roman Bronze Works N.Y." One bronze plaque on the back of the base reads: Another reads, "This bronze statue of General Robert E. Lee was presented to the City of Dallas on June 12, 1936, by the Dallas Southern Memorial Association / Lee Memorial Company / Elizabeth Rembert Rogers, Chairman." A third reads, "The soldier accompanying General Lee represents the entire youth of the South to whom General Lee became a great inspiration. He was not intended by the sculptor to be an aide-de-camp."

History

Creation

The statue ''Robert E. Lee on Traveller'' was made by

. When Proctor was hired by the Southern Women's Memorial Association to design an equestrian statue of Lee, he initially planned for the statue to depict Lee and a young Confederate States Army soldier heading into a storm with their heads down and the heads of their mounts lowered. Members of the Association were offended that the statue would depict a defeated South, so Proctor redesigned the statue to depict Lee as confidently marching forward. This new design was quickly and enthusiastically approved by members of the association and by Lee's grandson. The statue cost $50,000. Proctor eventually would come to believe that Lee "was never personally defeated," an idea popular in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

. Proctor modeled his likenesses of Lee on old photographs while basing his likeness of Lee's horse, Traveller, on a horse owned by a friend, the general's writings, and photographs of Traveller. It took Proctor two years to complete a working model of the statue and another two years to complete the finished statue. The statue was originally planned to be put in

Dealey Plaza Dealey Plaza is a city park in the West End Historic District of downtown Dallas, Texas. It is sometimes called the "birthplace of Dallas". It was also the location of the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963; 30 minutes after the shooting ...

, though it was erected in Oak Lawn Park.

Unveiling

The statue was unveiled on June 12, 1936, by President

to honor Confederate veterans. On that day, President Roosevelt gave a speech praising the general, saying:

I am very happy to take part in this unveiling of the statue of General Robert E. Lee. All over the United States we recognize him as a great leader of men, as a great general. But, also, all over the United States I believe that we recognize him as something much more important than that. We recognize Robert E. Lee as one of our greatest American Christians and one of our greatest American gentlemen.

Robert E. Lee IV handed President Roosevelt a ribbon to pull, unveiling the statue. When the president saw the statue, Proctor heard him call it "magnificent!". Then W. H. Wells, one of the remaining soldiers who fought in Lee's army, was escorted to see the president through the crowd of people attending the unveiling ceremony.

American flags The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the ...

, Confederate flags, and Lone Star flags were flown during the ceremony. The unveiling of ''Robert E. Lee on Traveller'' caused no controversy.

Yoni Appelbaum Yoni Appelbaum, an American historian and journalist, is Senior Editor for politics at ''The Atlantic''. Appelbaum was previously a columnist for the publication. Early life and education Appelbaum is the son of Diana Muir Karter and Dr. Paul ...

of ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' contextualized Roosevelt's comments as part of a trend of American presidents praising Lee. He noted that

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of P ...

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 19 ...

, Ronald Reagan,

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

and

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...

all complimented General Lee.

Subsequent history

The same year the statue was unveiled, Oak Lawn Park was renamed Robert E. Lee Park. ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''The Galves ...

'' conducted an informal poll in 1987 to find the public's favorite statue in Dallas; Proctor's statue of General Lee came second after Robert Glen's '' Mustangs at Las Colinas''. In 1991, the Dallas Southern Memorial Association spent $50,000 to restore the monument, which subsequently received a historical marker from the

Texas Historical Commission The Texas Historical Commission is an agency dedicated to historic preservation within the state of Texas. It administers the National Register of Historic Places for sites in Texas. The commission also identifies Recorded Texas Historic L ...

. The statue was surveyed by the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

Save Outdoor Sculpture! Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!) was a community-based effort to identify, document, and conserve outdoor sculpture in the United States. The program was initiated in 1989 and ended in 1999. History Save Outdoor Sculpture! was initiated by Herit ...

program in 1992. In July 2015, the statue was vandalized when someone painted the word "shame" across its base. The vandalism occurred concurrently with protests against

Confederate monuments and memorials Confederate monuments and memorials in the United States include public displays and symbols of the Confederate States of America (CSA), Confederate leaders, or Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War. Many monuments and memorials Removal ...

across the United States. The statue was removed in 2017 following the

Unite the Right rally The Unite the Right rally was a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017. Marchers included members of the alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, white nationalists, Neo-Nazism, neo- ...

where

white nationalists White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara. ''Hate Crimes''. Greenwoo ...

protested the planned removal of another statue of Lee; the rally resulted in the death of a woman at the hands of a suspected white nationalist. Dallas' city council voted to remove the statue, and the city's mayor viewed the statue as a symbol of injustice. In 2019, the statue was put up for auction by the city of Dallas; money gained from the sale of the statue was to be used to fund the removal of Dallas'

Confederate War Memorial Confederate monuments and memorials in the United States include public displays and symbols of the Confederate States of America (CSA), Confederate leaders, or Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War. Many monuments and memorials Removal ...

. The starting bid for the auction was $450,000. The auction was won by Holmes Firm PC, a Dallas law firm which bid $1,435,000 on the statue. It was initially unclear if Holmes Firm PC purchased ''Robert E. Lee on Traveller'' for itself or on behalf of a client. According to the terms of sale, the statue cannot be displayed within Dallas city limits or be sold or given to someone who will display it within Dallas city limits. In September of the same year, the statue was installed at a golf course owned by

Kelcy Warren Kelcy Lee Warren (born November 9, 1955) is an American billionaire and the chairman and chief executive officer of Energy Transfer Partners. Early life Born in Gladewater, Texas, Warren grew up in White Oak, Texas, the youngest of four sons of ...

Terlingua, Texas Terlingua ( ) is a mining district and census-designated place (CDP) in southwestern Brewster County, Texas, United States. It is located near the Rio Grande and the villages of Lajitas and Study Butte, Texas, as well as the Mexican state o ...

, near the Mexican border crossing.

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

* {{Portal bar, Texas, Visual arts, War 1936 establishments in Texas 1936 sculptures Bronze sculptures in Texas Buildings and structures in Brewster County, Texas Confederate States of America monuments and memorials in Texas Equestrian statues in Texas Outdoor sculptures in Texas Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt Relocated buildings and structures in Texas Removed Confederate States of America monuments and memorials Sculptures by Alexander Phimister Proctor Sculptures of men in Texas Statues of Robert E. Lee Vandalized works of art in Texas