In 1915, Richmond sculptor Frederick William Sievers (1872-1966) entered a competition for a monument to Virginia to be placed on the historic Civil War battlefield at Gettysburg, PA. Sievers's plaster maquette was submitted to the committee where it underwent several design changes.
The Virginia Monument is a Battle of Gettysburg memorial to the commonwealth with a bronze equestrian statue of Robert E. Lee on his horse, Traveller supported by a secondary "bronze group of figures representing the Artillery, Infantry and Cavalry of the Confederate Army". The granite pedestal without the bronze sculptures was dedicated on June 3 for the 1913 Gettysburg reunion. On June 8, 1917, Virginia governor Henry C. Stuart presented the completed memorial to the Assistant Secretary of War.