Monmouth Battle Monument
This monument, directly in front of the Monmouth County Courthouse, is over 90 feet high and one of the highest monuments in New Jersey. It was dedicated on Nov. 13, 1884, and rededicated on Nov. 17, 1984.
There are five bronze relief tablets on the circular “base” of the monument. They deptict: 1) Ramsay Defending His Guns, a battle scene showing Lt. Col. Ramsay lunging forward with his sword at a British soldier on a fallen horse, who bows backward with sword upraised; cannon and men behind; 2) Washington Rallying The Troops, a scene of the General, in profile, riding a galloping horse with raised sword, facing a soldier holding a hat; 3) Molly Pitcher, shown in profile, loading a cannon with a plunger, as a gunner and a soldier stand nearby; 4) Council of War at Hopewell, including Lord Sterling, Knox, Scammell, Patterson, Steuben, Poor, Scott, Wayne, Greene, Woodford and Lee, gathering around a table as General Lafayette stands, pointing with proper right hand to a map spread out on a table and gesturing towards General Washington; 5) Wayne’s Charge, an American Army Lt. Colonel on horseback in profile, shown with an American soldier and British soldier fighting with rifles before him.
The cornerstone for the sculpture was laid on the centennial of the Battle of Monmouth. The completed sculpture was dedicated six years later on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the town of Freehold, November 13, 1884.
The original figure that topped the column, known as Liberty Triumphant or Columbia Triumphant, was provided by Frederick and Field of Quincy, Massachusetts, carver unknown. In August 1894, the figure was shattered by lightning. A replacement figure from Badger Brothers, also of Quincy, was mounted atop the column in May 1896.
According to legend, the sculptor used a then young Thomas Edison as a model for a gunner in the Molly Pitcher relief panel.
The column is topped by a cornice decorated with flying eagles; and the column base is decorated with bronze coats-of-arms of the 13 original colonies, with laurel leaves strung between them. The entire memorial sits atop a tripod-shaped flared base.
