Shall we being March with a trivia question?
When I first saw the monument at left a few years back I wondered what it was doing in the middle of a commercial district. When I realized that it was a monument to a US officer that clarified the situation a little for me. When I saw it again recently I began wondering about its legal status — is this on land owned by the federal government (as was the case for the Pennsylvania monument to the New Market Battle?)
Anyway, where is it and who is it? Below the fold are some pictures that place the monument in its "context." Sort of shows how the perspective on the monument changes depending on what picture you use, doesn't it? If you need a hint about this, perhaps the image of soldiers in the relief will do the trick. (Click on the first picture below the fold to bring up a larger image.)
Col. George W. Gowen. Petersburg, Virginia.
Jason! You're right again. Very nicely done.
The image in the relief is of the entrance to the mine under the Confederate lines, at what would become "the crater." In fact, this statue is along Crater Road, just a couple of blocks over from another US monument, at Fort Mahone:
http://www.thefacultylounge.org/2010/03/virginia-monuments-on-the-road-from-williamsburg-to-chapel-hill.html
One of these days I need to return to talking about the law of monuments.