Bas Relief Panel

The bas relief panel replicating part of the Civil War frieze was designed for the U.S. Pension Building. In 1882 General Montgomery Meigs commissioned Caspar Buberl to sculpt the Pension Bureau’s monumental frieze of infantry, cavalry, artillery, naval, quartermaster, and medical units. Well pleased with Buberl’s design, Meigs ordered a separate infantry panel with two officers on horseback for the ebony mantle in his home library. Despite requesting a replacement featuring three officers, seen here, Meigs mounted the original panel and sent this one to storage at the Pension Building. The replacement panel was discovered 100 years later during the Museum’s renovation.