The Battery D Memorial is a First World War memorial of historic, cultural and artistic significance commemorating the twenty-two New Bedford citizens who perished in the Great War While the city of New Bedford sacrificed 195 of its citizens, this memorial was dedicated specifically to the those infantrymen who served in Battery D F.A. F.A. Brigade, Yankee Division American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) organized in New Bedford, Massachusetts, during the spring of as Battery D, 2nd Field Artillery Regiment, Massachusetts National Guard Volunteer Militia. Sculpted by the Danish-born artist Christian Petersen the Battery D Memorial was dedicated on May 30, The Battery D Memorial is the work of a master and represents artistic trends of the first quarter of the twentieth century.
Christian Petersen was an accomplished twentieth century American artist whose oeuvre is recognized nationally. After his family immigrated to America, he attended the Technical School of Art in Newark, New Jersey, where he trained in steel engraving and specialized in medalist work. He subsequently studied sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and at the Art Students League of New York. Petersen then studied with Henry Hudson Kitson who was an English-born American well known for sculpting American war heroes.
Kitson s opus includes the commemorative Minute Man statue in Lexington, Massachusetts, as well as statues, reliefs, and busts of Confederate and Union military men.1 In Petersen was hired by the painter Grant Wood to sculpt relief panels for the Dairy Industry Building Courtyard at Iowa State University (ISU). This Work Progress Administration (WPA) project was arranged by Raymond M. Hughes, president of ISU in Ames, Iowa. This work advanced Petersen s career and he became the first artist to be granted a sculptor-in- residence position at this American university.
He was later appointed to the faculty in and he taught sculpting until in a space converted into a studio in the university s old Veterinary Quadrangle.2 1 Henry Hudson Kitson, Retrieved 2 Christian Petersen Sculptures, Retrieved BATTERY D MEMORIAL HALS NO. MA-4 PAGE 2 Petersen s mature work was influenced by the Art Deco style as well as the emerging Art Moderne and International style popular in the post Second World War era. His work possesses a streamlined, impressionistic, and monolithic aesthetic that reflects the American experience. His work often referenced agrarian, Native American, athletic, literary, and industrial-age themes. His medium was typically Iowa Bedford limestone or terra cotta.
The sculpture of the Gentle Doctor, depicting a veterinarian cradling an injured puppy, became his most iconic work and a nationally recognized symbol of the veterinary profession.3 Description: The Battery D Memorial, by sculptor Christian Petersen, depicts an American Doughboy from the First World War. This life-size bronze sculpture is mounted upon a rock-faced boulder of pink granite, and the statue s bronze surface has a verdigris finish attributable to oxidation over time. The statue is approximately 6 in height and its boulder plinth is approximately 3.5 in height, making the total height of the ensemble approximately 10 in height. The memorial is set within a triangular shaped island bounded by three streets and is known as Battery D Square. Petersen s memorial statue faces west.
The ground plane of the square is level and principally covered by turf, trees, and small shrubbery plantings. A granite curbing runs along the perimeter of the triangular site and sets the finished grade approximately 1 above the street grade. Additional elements have been subsequently added to this square and these include an artillery canon, mosaic walkway pavements, and smaller memorial markers honoring military service members from later conflicts. The memorial is accessible to the public via paved sidewalks surrounding it. The memorial is located an urban environment, which includes heavily trafficked roadways, low-rise commercial buildings and parking lots. Petersen s rendering of the Doughboy statue reflects artistic trends from the first quarter of the twentieth century.
It possesses the characteristics of Beaux-Arts monumentality, yet also exhibits traces of Realism or Naturalism that would have been a concurrent and popular artistic expression. While Petersen held to traditional aesthetic conventions associated with Beaux-Arts heroism, he also represents his subject truthfully and without artificiality. The bronze statue, with its accurately detailed uniform, conveys the soldier s weariness and the stoic determination. The Doughboy figure hunches forward with a broad gait and cradles the weight of the artillery shell in his arms. His foot is planted in a divot in the boulder s surface, which suggests that the soldier is slogging through the muddy terrain of the Western front.
Two bronze tablets are affixed to the granite boulder at the base of the statue. One tablet provides a detailed narrative the infantrymen s campaign while 3 Christian Petersen Sculptures, Retrieved BATTERY D MEMORIAL HALS NO. MA-4 PAGE 3 serving on the Western Front in France for nearly nine months from until the end of the conflict on November 11, The other tablet provides the dedication from veterans and citizens, and a roster of the twenty-two War Dead who hailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts. An inscription in Latin translates: It is sweet and proper to die for the fatherland.
Dedication Inscription on the Bronze Tablet affixed to the Battery D Memorial s granite boulder plinth: WITH GRATEFUL MEMORY AND IN HONOROF THE 22 MEN OF BATTERY D, FIELD ARTILLARY, YANKEE DIVISION WHO WERE KILLED IN ACTION OR DIED IN THE HOSPITALS OF FRANCE DURING THE WORLD WAR, THIS STATUE IS DEDICATED BY THEIR COMRADES OF BATTERY D VETRANS ASSOCIATION, AND THEIR MANY NEW BEDFORD FRIENDS. DULCE ET DECORUM EST PRO PATRIA MORT 4 The Roster of the War Dead Engraved on the Bronze Tablet affixed to the Battery D Memorial s granite boulder plinth commemorating the servicemen of New Bedford, Massachusetts: ROBERT H. ANDREWS, HENRY H. BROWNS, KENNETH W. CHASE, SOLOMON COHEN, ALFRED A. COLLINS, ALBERT J. CRAW, STEPHEN B CAHILL, ARMAND DAIGLE, JOHN H.
DICKIE, GEORGE HIGGINSON, EDWARD HIRST, JAMES J. KELLEY, NESTOR L. LA BONTY, GEORGE LANDRY, AUSTIN O. LANNING, BRANSCOM LLOYD, THOMAS N. MOORE, AMEDEE POIRIER, FREDERICK W RICHARDSON, CHARLES N. SCOTT, B. CHESTER SMETHURST Historical Narrative Engraved on a Bronze Tablet affixed to the Battery D Memorial: Battery D F.A. F.A. Brigade, Yankee Division A.E.F. organized in New Bedford, Mass, during spring of as Battery D, 2nd Field Artillery Regiment, Massachusetts National Guard Volunteer Militia. Left New Bedford and mobilized at Boxford, Mass. July Federalized August 8th as Battery D, F.A. F.A. Brigade, Division. Left United States for overseas service with American Expeditionary Forces in France, September on board U.S. Transport Finland.
Arrived Saint Nazaire, France , October 5th Trained for service at the Front at Coetquiden, October until 4 From the Roman lyrical poet Horace s Odes (III.2.130, the translation from Latin to English: It is sweet and proper to die for the fatherland, Retrieved BATTERY D MEMORIAL HALS NO.
MA-4 PAGE 4 February1st Nine consecutive months service on Western Front in France Chemin-Des-Dames Sector Soissons, February until March Toul Lorraine-Boucq Sector, April until June Battles of Seicheprey, April19th and Xivray-Marvoisin, June Pont-A-Mousson, June Picary Second Line of Defense, July 5th and Champagne-Marne Chateau-Theirry Defensive, July 8th to July 17,Aisne-Marne Offensive Second Battle of the Marne, July to August Toroy Belleau, Givry, Bouresches Woods, Rochet Woods, Hill overlooking Chateau-Thierry, Etrepilly, Bezuet, Epieds, Trugny, LaFereWoods to the Jaulgonne-Pere-En-Tardenois Highway and Nesles, territory recaptured 40 kilometers. Saint Mihiel Offensive. September 4th to September Troyan Sector, September to September Meusse-Argonne Offensive.
Sector north of Verdun, September to November11th. The Unit spent the winter of at Mayet in the Le Mans area. Sailed from Brest for United States on board the U.S. Transport Mongolia March Arrived in Unite States April mobilized at Camp Devens Mass. Final Divisional review April Divisional Parade at Boston April Demobilized and discharged April Symbolic values of the leitmotifs found in the Battery D Memorial: Doughboy or Brodie Helmet: The Brodie helmet was a steel combat helmet designed and patented in London in by John Leopold Brodie. In the United States, it was called the Doughboy helmet and also known as the dishpan hat, tin pan hat, washbasin, battle bowler (when worn by officers), and Kelly helmet.
The German Army called it the Salatsch ssel (salad bowl).5 Doughboy Weapons & Ordnance motif: Infantry soldiers were typically issued both the Model Springfield .30 caliber rifle and bayonet along with the Model Colt .45 caliber pistol. The 2-pocket magazine pouch for the pistol held 28 rounds of .45 ball ammunition.6 Condition: The Battery D Memorial is in good condition. The bronze doughboy statue is structurally sound. The memorial and the surrounding greenspace appear to receive routine maintenance and care. There is no evidence of vandalism, neglect or damage. The statue and bronze tablets have a verdigris patina that is 5 Brodie helmet, en.wikipedia.org, retrieved 6 The Doughboy s Uniform and Equipment, retrieved BATTERY D MEMORIAL HALS NO.
MA-4 PAGE 5 associated with age and exposure to the elements. The site retains its integrity with its period, granite perimeter curbing remaining extant. Subsequent alternations and additions have been made to the site, which include the addition of small commemorative markers and mosaic pavements. The evolving character of the memorial s environment from semi-rural to a more urban environment (characteristic of suburban sprawl) has altered the context of the memorial and its immediate area.
History: On May 30, New Bedford Mayor Walter Remington dedicated the Battery D Memorial in the triangular parcel of land formed by the intersection of North Street, Kempton Street and Watson Street, and that small parcel became known as Battery D Square.7 The memorial commemorates the specific sacrifice of the twenty-two citizens of New Bedford who served in Battery D of the Field Artillery of the Division of the war s National Guard effort; however, New Bedford lost 195 of its citizens in the two years that America was involved in the war from and The Doughboy statue was modeled on Warren M. Frank, who was an infantryman in Battery D and a resident of New Bedford.
It depicts the soldier striding through the battlefield carrying an artillery shell.8 In New Bedford, Massachusetts had a population of approximately citizens. It had been one of America s principal ports and a center of the global commercial whaling industry in the nineteenth century. By the latter part of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, it had become an important mill town and industrial center, which specialized in textile production. It was also a melting pot of many ethnicities and nationalities that came to the city looking for work in the mills and factories. Half of New Bedford s citizens were foreign-born immigrants, which included French- Canadians, English, Irish and Portuguese.
Additionally, sizeable communities of German, French and Polish descent populated the city.9 New Bedford erected other memorials to its War Dead from the First World War, which include commemorative sites throughout the city and in the neighboring community of Dartmouth, Massachusetts. In Buttonwood Park on the city s westside, there is a polished granite cenotaph. In Brooklawn Park on the city s northeast side, there is a bronze memorial tablet affixed to a granite marker with the names of the Fallen. In neighboring Dartmouth, The Plummer Memorial Bridge, spanning Little River, honors US Army Second Lieutenant Charles Warner Plummer and his uncle Henry Rodman Plummer who were residents of New Bedford. Charles W.
Plummer graduated from Harvard College and enlisted in the Aero Squadron and was 7 Time to Make New Bedford s Doughboy Statue More Available to the Public, Retrieved 8 Ibid., Retrieved 9 New Bedford in the Trenches, Retrieved BATTERY D MEMORIAL HALS NO. MA-4 PAGE 6 shot down over the Vesle River in France on August 11, His remains were buried in the Oisne-Aisne American Cemetery, Seringe-et-Nesles, France. He was a recipient of France s Croix de Guerre for his heroic wartime missions. Thomas R. Plummer, Charles uncle, served in the Red Cross in France and died from an infection on November 24, He was 56 years old and was buried in the village cemetery in Moyenmoutier, France.
Henry Plummer of New Bedford, father of Charles and brother to Thomas, dedicated a bronze plaque on the bridge near the family farm in the rural hamlet of Potomska in Dartmouth, MA.10 While the plaque remains extant and the bridge continues to be known as the Plummer Memorial Bridge, the original bridge built in the was demolished and reconstructed in
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