It amuses me that the statue was probably taken down because of the musical "Hamilton." Until that smash hit, hardly anybody in Albany either knew who Schuyler was or cared. But since Hamilton flirted with two of Schuyler's daughters and married one – at Schuyler senior's house overlooking the Hudson just south of Albany – millions of people got to know the name and a few began to wonder about him.
Schuyler (1733-1804) became famous because he was really rich and well-connected, and because with his wife (nee Catherine Van Rensselaer) he ran a wonderfully hospitable home where they welcomed every caller of genteel station from anywhere in the British world. Every great name of that period visited the Schuyler mansion, including many young men interested mainly in the daughters (and their fortunes). Schuyler parlayed these connections into a Major General's Commission in the Continental Army. Which was fine until the British actually invaded New York from the north, placing Schuyler and the troops under his command squarely in their path.
When he heard that Schuyler was expected to defend Albany from the British, George Washington – who knew Schuyler pretty well – was so alarmed that he immediately sent two of his most able subordinates (Daniel Morgan and Benedict Arnold) to serve under Schuyler and try to keep him from disaster. They arrived too late to keep Schuyler from blundering away Fort Ticonderoga, which led to his being relieved of battlefield command and replaced with Horatio Gates, but anyway you get the idea about Schuyler's military acumen.
After the war he helped the Federalist cause as a New York legislator and then served in the first US Senate, before losing to Aaron Burr in his reelection bid.
So, ok, Schuyler was a prominent person of sorts, but an utter failure as a military commander and hardly a leader in any other walk of life. The statue was erected in 1925. Why? Was there some sort of Revolutionary mania around the 150th anniversary of 1776 that put everyone the mood for statues of leaders from that period? Was the mayor a descendant? Puzzling.
So I put this in the category of "statues not worth arguing about because they never should have been there in the first place."
2 comments:
So, ok, Schuyler was a prominent person of sorts, but an utter failure as a military commander and hardly a leader in any other walk of life. The statue was erected in 1925. Why? Was there some sort of Revolutionary mania around the 150th anniversary of 1776 that put everyone the mood for statues of leaders from that period? Was the mayor a descendant? Puzzling.
Isn't the usual thing in a case like this that some descendant (probably not actually the mayor) wants to glorify their house, so to speak, and so goes to the local government (probably the mayor, this time) and says "Here's a fistful of ancestral family wealth, I want to commission a statue of my great-grandfather for public display please, and you can keep what's left over for yourself as a contribution to your 'reelection campaign', thank you"?
Back in 1925, you could get a statue of virtually -anything- made and displayed if you greased the right palms.
"The statue was a gift to the city from George C. Hawley, a beer baron, in memory of his wife Theodora M. Hawley." No sign that either of these worthy persons were Schuyler's descendants -- it just seems that his reputation in Albany is pretty darn big: "The State Education Department issued a booklet for students, Philip Schuyler and the Growth of New York, 1733-1804 in 1968, citing 'the decisions he made and his influence on his world' through decades of public service."
Cherchez la fenmme:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50505918/theodora-millard-hawley
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