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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;HandsomeToad, post: 451403, member: 12965&quot;]Here&#039;s a little more detailed information:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><i>A monumental statue for the top of the national Capitol appeared in Architect Thomas U. Walter&#039;s original drawing for the new cast-iron dome, which was authorized in 1855. Walter&#039;s drawing showed the outline of a statue representing Liberty; Crawford proposed an allegorical figure of &quot;Freedom triumphant in War and Peace.&quot; After Secretary of War Jefferson Davis objected to the sculptor&#039;s intention to include a liberty cap, the symbol of freed slaves, Crawford replaced it with a crested Roman helmet.</i></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><i>Crawford was commissioned to design the Statue of Freedom in 1855 and executed the plaster model for the statue in his studio in Rome. He died in 1857 before the model left his studio. The model, packed into six crates, was shipped from Italy in a small sailing vessel in the spring of 1858. During the voyage the ship began to leak and stopped in Gibraltar for repairs. After leaving Gibraltar, the ship began leaking again to the point that it could go no farther than Bermuda, where the model was stored until other transportation could be arranged. Half of the crates finally arrived in New York in December, but all sections were not in Washington until late March of 1859.</i></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><i>Beginning in 1860, the statue was cast in five main sections by Clark Mills, whose bronze foundry was located on the outskirts of Washington. Work was halted in 1861 because of the Civil War, but by the end of 1862 the statue was finished and temporarily displayed on the Capitol grounds. The cost of the statue, exclusive of installation, was $23,796.82. Late in 1863, construction of the dome was sufficiently advanced for the installation of the statue, which was hoisted in sections and assembled atop the cast-iron pedestal. The final section, the figure&#039;s head and shoulders, was raised on December 2, 1863, to a salute of 35 guns answered by the guns of the 12 forts around Washington.</i></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><i>The plaster model of the statue, which had been in storage for 25 years, was reassembled and restored in the basement rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building, where it was returned to public display in January 1993.</i></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Ribbit&nbsp; <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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