Stonewall Jackson Statue at Manassas Battlefield
Pictures and text by Neal West
The Stonewall Jackson statue is located on the grounds of Manassas National Battlefield Park. The 4,000 acre park is located in Virginia about 25 miles from Washington D.C. and memorializes the fallen soldiers, North and South, who fell during the two American Civil War battles there in 1861 and 1862. The idea of the Jackson statue was born during 75th anniversary festivities at the Park in 1936 when the acting superintendent suggested that a more suitable monument replace the small sign currently in place. Two years later, the state of Virginia appropriated funds for the project and the pro-Southern group "Sons of Confederate Veterans" donated land for the purpose. A condition of the land transfer was that a Jackson memorial be erected and that it, and other historic markers and monuments, be fair, accurate, display due honor to Confederate heroes, and acknowledge the contributions of the SCV.
Virginia state agencies selected Italian-born sculptor Joseph Pollia for the project. Trained at the school associated with the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Pollia had sculpted several monuments to American history, including a Spanish-American memorial on San Juan Hill in Cuba and a statue of Union General Philip Henry Sheridan. With the input of pro-Confederate groups, Pollia finally completed a design and the statue unveiled in August, 1940. The idealized Jackson sits atop an equally impressive rendition of his wartime mount, "Little Sorrel." The bronze horse is mounted atop an eight-foot base of black granite etched with Brig. Gen. Barnard Bee's immortal phrase, "There Stands Jackson Like a Stone Wall." The statue is located NE of the Park's visitor center and looks toward the location of the Union lines.
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Front of the base of the statue. Jackson's name and date of birth and death |
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Left of base with the quote that gave Jackson his nom de guerre. |
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Jackson looks toward Henry House and the Union lines. |
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Right side of the base with the date of the first Manassas battle. |
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Rear inscription |
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Jackson statue looking SW toward visitor center parking lot. |
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Entire statue looking toward the East. |
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Close up of horse and rider showing the exaggerated muscle tones that implies super-human strength, unconquerable spirit. |
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Close up of Jackson's head and shoulders. |
