I've read that there is a correlation, in memorial statues that show
soldiers on horseback, between:

1) how the soldier died, and
2) how many feet the horse they are riding on has on the ground.

It's something like: if there's one foot on the ground, they died
leading a victorious battle, and if there are four feet on the ground,
they died a natural death in bed.

I've also heard that there's some correspondence between the direction
the soldier's head is turned and whether they ended up on the winning
side or the losing side of their last battle.

So my question is: what are the rules/traditions that govern the
construction of military memorial statues?

Hello Eric,

This is a great question! Being prior military (USMC), your question
immediately drew my attention. I have buried many veterans in funeral
details, and was able to see quite a few monuments (most don't fit
this criteria).

From a military aspect, there is no criteria set forth as to the
construction of these types of monuments. There are some that *just*
happen to meet the criteria you listed, and even more that do not.

Here is a website that keeps a file of many of the urban myths that
still linger in our society. They list some statues that do seem to
follow this legend (purely accident or by choice), and a list to
discredit the theory that this is a common military practice.

Urband Legends MIlitary Statue Reference
http://www.snopes.com/military/statue.htm


This article goes on to explain that while it may have been a
tradition, the question would remain as to why the most prominent
sculptors in the world did not adhere to it. An example would be :

Excerpt from page above:

"MAJ. GEN. ANDREW JACKSON Two hooves raised; died in peace."


This website also answers your question about the direction of the
head. I can say from a military perspective, that there is no
tradition. While many of us in the military have our own 'handed down'
traditions, none are prevelant enough to be considered fact or
mandatory statutes. Here is an excerpt about the direction of the
head:

"....Confederate President Jefferson Davis are pointed in distinct
directions, according to local lore. Those who died in the war face
north. If they survived, they face south..."

Further down the site we see:

"The heads of Stuart, Davis, and Matthew Fontaine Maury face east...."

This kind of ruins that angle :-)

To help with this answer I searched Google for:

one foot ground horse military memorial
://www.google.com/search?q=one+foot+ground+horse+military+memorial

Should you need further clarification, please ask before rating this
answer and I'll assist you as much as possible.

Thanks for the great question!
SgtCory

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Request for Answer Clarification by eric_rodenbeck-ga on 15 Nov 2002 20:07 PST

heya

thanks very much for the prompt reply. I actually did a little google
search myself on a few of the terms, and turned up the scopes page not
too soon after that. I mainly wanted to see what sort of answer I
would get, and wasn't disappointed!

As far as rating the service, I suppose the only way it could have
been better would be if you had given me couple other instances of
this kind of legend; for example the snopes page contains some info
about the position of crusaders' legs in memorials.

The snopes stuff is definitely right on but there is, for example, a
legend that the statue of Garibaldi in New York's Union Square will
draw his sword if a virgin ever walks through the park [he's pictured
with his hand on his sword in the scabbard, but the sword itself is
broken off]. Hahaha...

I read the recommendations for how much to spend on a search and
thought that $10 would bump me into some other category :) So if
you're so inclined, I'd love to find out another little interesting
tidbit like the crusaders' legs... but I'm definitely satisfied with
the answer I got. Thanks! I'll be back!

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Clarification of Answer by sgtcory-ga on 15 Nov 2002 20:17 PST

You bet I'm inclined to help further :-) Give me a little while to see
what I can dig up. I'm not happy until your happy -

SgtCory

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Clarification of Answer by sgtcory-ga on 15 Nov 2002 21:06 PST

That is a tough request! Nothing I can find relates to the position of
the legs of the rider. I was however able to reference more credible
sources to back up the original answer.


Here is a summary of a document on an official military site that
confirms our findings :

http://carlisle-www.army.mil/search/oop/qsumrhit.htw?CiWebHitsFile=%2Fusamhi%2Fbibliographies%2Freferencebibliographies%2Fanimals%2Fhorses%2Fequestrianstatues%2Edoc&CiRestriction=%40Contents+statues&CiBeginHilite=%3Cb+class%3DHit%3E&CiEndHilite=%3C%2Fb%3E&CiUserParam3=/search/search.asp

Here is the actual document:
http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usamhi/bibliographies/referencebibliographies/animals/horses/equestrianstatues.doc

Yet more excerpts discrediting this myth:

"A historian for the U.S. Army Center of Military History also
dismissed the story as a myth..."

The StraightDope
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_074.html



Questions like this, that have two routes to go (yes/no), make it hard
to give much of an answer. Once the data is collected, I try to stay
away from adding too much *fluff*, so the question asker feels like
he/she got the most 'bang for the buck'. I do try my best to offer as
much information as I possibly can, and I hope you find this answer to
fully satisfy the question.

If you still have more quesitons I would be more than willing to offer
assistance.

Thanks again Eric,
SgtCory