On the 5th of July, 1876, Hon. John Sherman, of Ohio, offered in the
Senate a joint resolution declaring, after an appropriate preamble, that
the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled, "in the
name of the people of the United States, at the beginning of the second
century of the national existence, do assume and direct the completion
of the Washington Monument, in the City of Washington." This resolution
was unanimously adopted in both Houses of Congress.
On July 22d, the Senate passed a bill appropriating $100,000, "to
continue the construction of the Washington Monument in the City of
Washington."
In the debate in the Senate there was some criticism of the design of
the Monument as an obelisk, and preference was expressed for some other
form of Monument.
It was said by Senator Bayard:
"I do not believe that the impression we desire to produce upon them
(the people) will in any degree be assisted by the continuance of
such a blot upon architecture, as I must consider this obelisk which
stands here half-shorn of its height."
It was remarked by Mr. Sherman:
"I think it is the misfortune now of this Washington Monument that
it has been talked of in Congress for one hundred years. We have
made promise after promise, and the very moment we come to do
anything like the execution of the promise we are met by these
delays."
The question of the sufficiency of the foundation of the Monument was
also raised, resulting in adding a section to the bill providing for an
examination of the foundation before commencing work on the Monument,
and if the same should be found insufficient no work to be done until
the matter was reported to Congress.
The bill also provided that before the expenditure of any of the
appropriation the Society should transfer and covey to the United
States, in due form, all the property, rights, and privileges belonging
to it in the Monument.
The construction of the Monument was placed under a joint commission
consisting of the President of the United States, the Supervising
Architect of the Treasury Department, and the Architect of the Capitol.
In the House of Representatives the bill was referred, on July 24th, to
the Committee on Appropriations, and reported back by Mr. Foster, of
Ohio, on July 27th, with amendments. As amended, the bill provided for
an appropriation of $200,000, payable in four equal annual installments,
to continue the construction of the Washington Monument, "and provided
that nothing in the bill should be 'so construed as to prohibit the
Society' from continuing its organization for the purpose of soliciting
money and material from the States, associations, and the people in aid
of the completion of the Monument, and acting in an advisory and
co-operative capacity with the Commissioners hereinafter named until the
completion and dedication of the same."
The Joint Commission was increased from the three members provided by
the Senate to five by adding to it the "Chief of Engineers of the United
Staten Army and the First Vice-President of the Washington National
Monument Society."
It was explained by Mr. Foster that the sum had been raised to $200,000,
with an annual expenditure of it of $50,000, and the Society continued;
"because we hope by continuing the Society in existence they can raise
from the people the balance of the sum needed, and as it will take at
least four years to complete the Monument." He further remarked: "This
puts the appropriation of $200,000 in the form of a donation, while at
the same time it secures to the United States all the property and
rights or every name and nature of the Society. * * The present purpose
is to complete the Monument within live years," and to dedicate it
"October 19, 1881, being the centennial of the surrender of Cornwallis
at Yorktown, the last 'great act of Washington's' military career, and
the closing act of the war."
In considering the bill, several amendments were adopted at the instance
of Mr. Holman, of Indiana, and other members.
The bill passed the House July 27th, and as amended, was passed by the
Senate the next day and was approved by President Grant on the 2d of
August, 1876.
September 7, 1876, the Society adopted and issued an appeal "To the
People of the United States," which was signed by its Secretary, John B.
Blake.
After referring to the act of Congress appropriating $200,000 to aid in
the completion of the Monument, the appeal recited:
"The occasion is deemed a fitting one to address the citizens of the
United States upon that subject, and to exhort them, in the name of
patriotism, not for a moment, on that account, to relax their
efforts to hasten the accomplishment of that long delayed but much
desired result."
No response, however, was had from the appeal. The country evidently now
looked to Congress to assume the whole amount required to finish the
Monument.
January 19, 1877. Mr. W. W. Corcoran and Dr. John B. Blake, as officers
of the Society, conveyed by deed to the United States the property
referred to in the act of August 2, 1876, which deed was duly recorded
in the land records of the District of Columbia.
Of the funds in the possession of the Society was later erected the
memorial building on the Monument grounds for the office of the
custodian, the deposit of the Society's archives, and for the
accommodation of the visitor.
The relations of the Society to the Monument were now limited as
provided in the law. Such States as had omitted providing memorial
blocks to represent them in the Monument had their attention called to
the omission and supplied them.
In accordance with the proviso in the act of Congress the foundations of
the Monument were examined. The board of officers detailed from the
Engineer Corps of the Army by the President to make the examination
reported adversely as to their sufficiency to sustain the weight of the
Monument at its proposed height, and the matter was reported to
Congress.
Under authority of joint resolutions of Congress of June 14, 1878, and
June 27, 1879, authorizing it, the foundations were strengthened.
This difficult work was successfully accomplished by the eminent
engineer, Lieut.-Col. Thomas Lincoln Casey (later Brigadier-General),
Corps of Engineers, who had been detailed by the President, at the
request of the Joint Commission, as engineer officer in charge of the
construction of the Monument. Capt. George W. Davis, U. S. A., was
detailed as Assistant Engineer. He had been recommended and endorsed for
the position of engineer in charge by the Society. Later, Mr. Bernard R.
Green, C. E., also acted as assistant to Colonel Casey.
Many important features of the work performed emanated from suggestions
made and worked out by these officers, and which were adopted. To
Captain Davis was assigned the duty of observing and superintending the
execution of the details of construction as the work progressed and the
performance of the contracts for materials. The immediate direction of
work and workmen on the grounds was the duty of the master mechanic, Mr.
P. H. McLaughlin. To Mr. Green is to be ascribed the conception and
working out of the plans for placing the pyramidion or top on the shaft,
plans adopted by the Engineer-in-Charge and approved by the Joint
Commission.
The detail plans of construction were drawn by Mr. Gustav Friebus, of
Washington, D. C., an architect employed in the office of the
Engineer-in-Charge, and under his direction.
The work of strengthening the foundations approaching completion, the
fact was reported to Congress by the Joint Commission, and an
appropriation recommended to begin and continue the erection of the
shaft.
In support of this recommendation, and to secure adherence to the
original plan of a simple obelisk and to meet the objections frequently
raised, both in and out of Congress as to that form of monument, the
Society, after some correspondence with Colonel Casey, at a meeting held
on the 1st of April, 1880, appointed the following committee "to take
charge of the interests of the Monument before Congress:" Robert C.
Winthrop, Joseph M. Toner, James G. Berret, Horatio King, John B. Blake,
and Daniel B. Clarke.
This committee carefully prepared a memorial, addressed to Congress,
which was adopted at a special meeting of the Society on the 26th of
April, 1880. The memorial was presented to Congress by the committee on
the 20th of April, 1880, referred to the Committee on the District of
Columbia, and ordered printed. The memorial recited, in part:
"The undersigned are not unmindful that strong efforts have been
made of late to throw discredit on the design of the Monument, and
that various plans have been presented for changing the character of
the structure. Nor has the Association, which the undersigned have
the honor to represent, ever been unwilling that such modifications
of the design should be made as should be found necessary for the
absolute security of the work. With this view they gave formal
expression a year ago to their acquiescence in the general plans of
the accomplished American artist, Mr. Story, who had kindly given
his attention to the subject: but now that the strengthening of the
foundation has been successfully and triumphantly accomplished by a
signal application of skill and science, they cannot forbear front
making a respectful but urgent appeal to Congress to give their
final sanction to the prosecution and completion of the work without
more delay according to the plans recommended by the commissioners
appointed by Congress with the President of the United States at
their head and by the engineer under their direction. Any other
course, they are convinced, would be likely to postpone the
completion of the Monument for another generation, to involve the
whole subject in continued perplexity, and to necessitate vastly
larger appropriations in the end than have now been asked for. * * *
"It has been objected in some quarters that the ancient obelisks
were all monolithic--massive single stones, cut whole from the
quarry; but our country has been proud to give examples of both
political and material structures which owe their strength to union;
and this Monument to Washington will not be the less significant or
stately from embodying the idea of our national motto, '_E pluribus
unum_.'
* * * * *
"Something more original and more ornate might have been conceived
at the outset or might now be designed, but there are abundant
fields for the exhibition of advanced art in other parts of the
country, if not here. This Monument and its design will date back to
the time of its inception, and will make no pretensions to
illustrate the arts of 1880. It was not undertaken to illustrate the
fine arts of any period, but to commemorate the foremost man of all
ages. Indeed, it will date back in its form and in its proportions
to a remote antiquity. It is a most interesting fact communicated to
us in the letters, hereto appended, of our accomplished American
minister at Rome, the Hon. George P. Marsh, as the result of his own
researches, that the proportions of this Monument, as now designed,
are precisely those of all the best-known Egyptian obelisks. The
height of those monuments is ascertained by him to have been
uniformly and almost precisely ten times the dimensions of the base,
and _this proportion_ has now been decided on for our own Monument
to Washington, the measurements of the base being fifty-five feet,
and projected elevation five hundred and fifty feet. * * * It seems
to the undersigned sufficient respectfully to suggest that the
question before Congress at this moment is not whether the original
plans might not have been improved to advantage, but whether this
long-delayed work shall be finished within any reasonable period or
be left still longer as a subject for competition among designers
and constructors.
* * * * *
"By the adoption of the recommendations of the Commissioners and
Engineer the work may be completed within the next four years. * * *
While the structure would make no appeal to a close and critical
inspection as a mere work of art, it would give a crowning finish to
the grand public buildings of the Capital, would add a unique
feature to the surrounding landscape, and would attract the admiring
gaze of the most distant observers in the wide range over which it
would be visible. It would be eminently a monument for the
appreciation of the many, if not of the few, and would thus verify
the designation originally given it, of 'The People's Monument to
their most illustrious Benefactor.'"
In a letter to the chairman of the committee of the Society by Colonel
Casey, dated April 19, 1887, he stated:
"The base of the Monument is 55 feet square, the top will be 34 feet
6 inches square, and it will be crowned with a pyramidion, or roof,
50 feet in height. The proportions of the parts of this obelisk are
in exact accordance with the classic proportions of parts of this
style of architecture, as determined after careful research by the
Hon. George P. Marsh, American Minister at Rome."
The recommendations of the Joint Commission, of the Engineer, Colonel
Casey, and of the Society, as to plan and proportions of the shaft, were
happily sustained.
The prediction in the Society's last memorial to Congress was fully
realized in the completed Monument, which has ever since attracted "the
admiring gaze of the most distant observers in the wide range over which
it is visible." None are found to regret the form of the Monument, which
was firmly adhered to as most fitting to perpetuate the name and fame of
Washington.
Congress making the required annual appropriation for the purpose, the
work proceeded and the Monument was finally completed on the 6th of
December, 1884, on which day its capstone was set in place.
By joint resolution of Congress, approved May 13, 1884, a commission was
created, consisting of five Senators, eight Representatives, and three
members of the Washington National Monument Society to make arrangements
for the dedication of the Monument. The following persons composed the
Commission:
Hon. JOHN SHERMAN,
Hon. JUSTIN S. MORRILL,
Hon. WILLIAM B. ALLISON,
Hon. THOMAS F. BAYARD,
Hon. LUCIUS Q. C. LAMAR,
Hon. WILLIAM DORSHEIMER,
Hon. JOHN RANDOLPH TUCKER,
Hon. JOHN H. REGAN,
Hon. PATRICK COLLINS,
Hon. NATHANIEL B. ELDREDGE,
Hon. HENRY H. BINGHAM,
Hon. JOSEPH G. CANNON,
Hon. JAMES LAIRD, AND
Hon. W. W. CORCORAN,
President JAMES C. WELLING,
Dr. JOSEPH M. TONER.
Pursuant to the order of proceedings adopted by the Commission the
Monument was dedicated on the 21st of February, 1885. The ceremonies,
began at the base of the Monument at 11 o'clock, Hon. John Sherman,
Chairman of the Commission, presided. After music, prayer by the Rev.
Mr. Suter, of Christ Church, Alexandria, Va.; an address prepared by W.
W. Corcoran, the First Vice-President of the Washington National
Monument Society, read by Dr. James C. Welling, Mr. Corcoran being
unable to attend; Masonic ceremonies by the Grand Lodge of the District
of Columbia, Grand Master Myron M. Parker; remarks by Col. Thomas L.
Casey, the Engineer of the Joint Commission, delivering the Monument to
the President of the United States, the Monument was dedicated by the
President of the United States, Chester A. Arthur, in the following
words:
"FELLOW COUNTRYMEN: Before the dawn of the century whose eventful
years will soon have faded into the past--when death had but lately
robbed this Republic of its most beloved and illustrious
citizen--the Congress of the United States pledged the faith of the
Nation that in this city, bearing his honored name, and then, as
now, the seat of the General Government, a monument should be
erected to commemorate the great events of his military and
political life.
"The stately column that stretches heavenward front the plain
whereon we stand bears witness to all who behold it that the
covenant which our fathers made, their children have fulfilled.
"In the completion of this great work of patriotic endeavor there is
abundant cause for national rejoicing; for while this structure
shall endure it shall be to all mankind a steadfast token of the
affectionate and reverent regard in which this people continue to
hold the memory of Washington. Well may he ever keep the foremost
place in the hearts of his countrymen.
"The faith that never faltered; the wisdom that was broader and
deeper than any learning taught in schools; the courage that shrank
from no peril and was dismayed by no defeat; the loyalty that kept
all selfish purpose subordinate to the demands of patriotism and
honor; the sagacity that displayed itself in camp and cabinet alike;
and, above all, that harmonious union of moral and intellectual
qualities which has never found its parallel among men--these are
the attributes of character which the intelligent thought of this
century ascribes to the grandest figure of the last.
"But other and more eloquent lips than mine will to-day rehearse to
you the story of his noble life and its glorious achievements.
"To myself has been assigned a simpler and more formal duty, in
fulfillment of which I do now, as President of the United States and
in behalf of the people, receive this Monument from the hands of its
builder, and declare it dedicated from this time forth to the
immortal name and memory of George Washington."
The proceedings occurred in the presence of a great concourse of
citizens and visitors from all parts of the country. The day was clear
and cold, and a light fall of snow covered the earth.
The procession to the Capitol, comprising a military escort, embracing
the regular forces of the Army and Navy and visiting military bodies
and a civic division, under command of Lieut.-Gen. P. H. Sheridan,
marshal of the day, was imposing.
The proceedings arranged in the hall of the House of Representatives
occurred in the presence of the President of the United States and his
Cabinet, the assembled Congress, the Judges of the Supreme Court of the
United States, Governors of States, Foreign Ambassadors and Ministers,
official heads in the Departments of the Government, municipal officers
of Washington, judges, distinguished officers of the Army and Navy, the
Marine Corps, and the Militia, scientists, journalists, scholars of
distinction, and many other invited guests of prominence. Among those
present were descendants of the family of Washington, and of his friends
and neighbors.
Prayer was offered by the Rev. S. A. Wallis, of Pohick Church, near
Mount Vernon, Va. An oration by Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, of
Massachusetts, was read by Hon. John D. Long, a Representative from
Massachusetts. Music by the United States marine band was followed by an
eloquent oration by the Hon, John W. Daniel, of Virginia.
The benediction was pronounced by the Rev. John A. Lindsay, Chaplain of
the House of Representatives.
The resolution of Congress of 1799 was at last fulfilled. The efforts of
the Washington National Monument Society were realized, and the American
people beheld the consummation of their desire--a great National
Monument erected at the seat of the Federal Government to the name and
memory of George Washington.
A provision in the sundry civil bill, approved October 2, 1888,
dissolved the Joint Commission, and placed the Monument "in the custody,
care, and protection" of the Secretary of War, and "continued" the
Washington National Monument Society "with the same powers as provided
in the act of August 2, 1876, creating the Joint Commission."