General Daniel Butterfield Statue

Daniel Butterfield (1831-1901) was born on October 31, 1831, the son of John Butterfield, a leader in the express mail business who helped found the American Express Company. After graduating from Union College in 1849, he became a merchant in New York City. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, he served as a colonel in the 12th New York militia, and his leadership in engagements on the upper Potomac in the Shenandoah Valley brought rapid promotion to brigadier-general of volunteers in the 12th Infantry. He distinguished himself as an officer and served as chief of staff to the Army of the Potomac during the Chancellorsville and Gettysburg campaigns; after being wounded at Gettysburg, he was reassigned as General Hooker’s chief of staff at Chattanooga and during the Atlanta campaign. By the end of the war he had been promoted to major general for gallant and meritorious conduct, and he is best remembered as the composer of the bugle call “Taps.” After the war, he remained in the Army in New York City as superintendent of the recruiting service and commander of the troops in New York harbor, resigned in March 1870, headed the local United States sub-treasury, joined the family business at American Express, and pursued successful real estate and railroad construction ventures. In 1886 he married Julia Lorrilard James in London, England. In later years he served as master of ceremonies for the Washington Centennial Celebration in 1889, General Sherman’s funeral in 1891, and Admiral Dewey’s return from Manila in 1899, and he was entombed at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. A bronze statue of Butterfield was created by sculptor John Gutzon Borglum, with a granite base designed by Ludlow and Peabody, following Julia Butterfield’s will directing that a colossal statue be erected in Manhattan near or in Central Park. Borglum, later known for his sculptures of four U.S. Presidents on Mount Rushmore, depicted Butterfield in heroic size, in full-dress uniform with folded arms, standing on a stylized rock meant to evoke Little Round Top at Gettysburg. The statue was cast by the Gorgham Bronze Foundry in 1917 and erected on February 23, 1918, in the southeast corner of Sakura Park west of Grant’s Tomb. Disputes between Borglum and the executors led him to sue for $32,000 after extensive design changes. The statue was restored in 1936, altered again in 1986 during reconstruction of Sakura Park, and restored in 1999 with funding from the American Express Company, the Florence Gould Foundation, and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.

New York, New York · United States