Winfield Scott’s Transgender Horse

I’m a city slicker, unfamiliar enough with horses that I can’t see anything wrong with Winfield Scott’s statue. Clearly critics of the time were better versed, and this amusing WaPo article delves into their complaints, as well as other statue-based quirks.

Brown began work on Scott’s statue in Philadelphia, using bronze from cannons the general had seized in the Mexican-American War. Scott often rode a mare into battle, so Brown, known for his artistic realism, placed the general atop a small female horse. That didn’t sit well with Scott’s relatives, who wanted the general portrayed on a heroic-looking charger. So they pleaded with Brown to add some “stallion attributes” to the steed.

Brown grumbled but reluctantly complied. Sort of. He added a small male sexual “appendage” to the small female horse. Suddenly, she became a he.

Source: The general’s horse wasn’t manly enough. So the sculptor gave the mare a makeover. – The Washington Post

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