Bronze, Barre granite; overall H: 26'4"; Statue H: 13'6"; Pedestal H: 12'2" W: 7'9" L: 15'; by Henry Kirke Brown (1814—86). Union Square, New York, NY.
Cast in 1856 and dedicated 4 July 1856, this equestrian statue of George Washington is the oldest sculpture in the New York City Parks collection. It portrays Washington riding into the city on Evacuation Day, 25 November, when he reclaimed the city from the British.
[Of those opposed to slavery,] George Washington belonged, with Mason and Jefferson, in the hardest category — disapproving owners. Theirs was the most difficult position to maintain, psychologically and rhetorically. It would not be maintained over the next sixty years, as southern antislavery rhetoric withered. Practically and politically, disapproving owners were in the hardest position from which to achieve their goals. How do you weaken an institution in which you and all your neighbors are enmeshed? Washington did enough, finally, to free his own slaves, which was more than many owners in his position did. Jefferson never freed all his, nor did any of the other slave-owning presidents.