Located at the intersection of Park Place and Main Street, Liberty Arming the Patriot by W. Granville Hastings memorializes Union soldiers of the Civil War. The statue depicts a farmer relinquishing his plow to take up arms provided by Lady Liberty to fight in preservation of the Union, as did many northern farmers in that war. At its base, viewed from the front, three reliefs are visible. Two on either side feature women in repose, one mourning and the other transcribing what we can assume to be a history of wartime events. The middle relief displays a scene of battle, figures concentrated in the left hand corner. On the back of the base of the statue is an inscription detailing the memorial’s dedication.

Erected by the Lady’s Soldiers’ Memorial Association, a committee formed to expedite the installation process earlier set in motion by the Free Public Library, Tower Post No. 17, G.A.R., and the Business Men’s Association, the memorial cost $100,000. Adjusted for inflation, the price would today be $2,778,000. Indeed, the statue was made possible through the donations of prominent Pawtucket and Blackstone Valley citizens.

Born in Kennington, Surrey, England on August 23, 1868, W. Granville Hastings attended the Lambeth Art School and worked for The Royal Doulton Company making fine pottery and vases in classical and renaissance fashion. When he immigrated to the United States, he shifted to sculpture and design working for the Gorham Manufacturing Company in New York, designing pieces for the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. He was active in the Providence Art Club and would later go on to create monuments such as the Soldiers and Sailors at Kennedy Plaza in Providence, Rhode Island, the Lincoln Monument in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Lincoln the Orator in Bunker Hill, Illinois, his most famous work. He died on June 13, 1902 in Mount Vernon, New York.

Todd Stong

Sources:
Elizabeth Johnson Pawtucket History Research Center at the Deborah Cooke Sayles Pawtucket Public Library

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