Hey everybody, I was running to a function in the city this morning. Cutting through Madison Square Park on my way to my destination I stopped to take a few photos on my cellphone.

This is the William Seward monument, which was dedicated in the Centennial year of 1876. That same year the arm of the Statue of Liberty was also placed in Madison Square Park, as a fund raising effort to procure proceeds for the completion of the statue that now stands in New York Harbor. The rumor on the street is that this is the head of Seward soldered onto the body of Lincoln. The reasoning is that, there being so many sculptors working on Lincoln figures in the decade after the sixteenth president’s assassination, it was quicker and less expensive to build the Seward statue in this manner. I have no idea if this is true but the gangly nature of the subject’s pose makes it seem plausible, doesn’t it?

This is Admiral David G. Farragut of “Damn the torpedoes” fame. Farragut was a Southerner but remained loyal to the Union. Next spring when I visit Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx I will make sure to see his final resting place. David McCullough wrote about this Augustus Saint-Gaudens piece in the Wall Street Journal in May. The more time passes the more fascinated I am with public art, especially monuments and statuary. Each tells a fascinating if obscure story to those wiling to listen.

I always get a kick out of the professional dog walkers. This one “only” had five.

The Empire State Building from Madison Square Park. It was a beautiful late autumn day in the city, crisp with blue skies and sunshine.

Around the corner is the 69th Regiment Armory. I blogged about this not long ago.

The building dates to 1904 but you can see from the inscriptions below that the famous regiment of course goes back to the Civil War.

It is hard to make out, but the first entry for battles engaged in by the 69th is Bull Run. Better blog photos are a 2012 resolution, pun intended. I was so happy to see the restored painting at the New-York Historical Society last week.

Finally I was off to my program, where I took this during the lunch break.

Enjoy your weekend.