Erected in 1902, the statue stands in Lincoln Park on Highway 18 at Stone and
Mill streets. The original work depicted President Lincoln with a freed slave, but
this version shows him with one hand behind his back and the
other holding the Emancipation Proclamation. Sculptor George Bissell, who fought
with a Connecticut regiment during the war, also created
four war scenes in relief for the pedestal.Bissell Statue in
Clermont, Iowa
After admiring the original of this statue in Edinburgh, Scotland, William
Larrabee ordered a replica sent to a small town in northeast Iowa. Larrabee,
a former Iowa governor, had installed huge bronze statues of Union generals
on the grounds of his nearby estate and wanted a public memorial to Civil
War soldiers and sailors for his hometown.
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