Returned Soldier (Civil War)

Returned Soldier Memorial in Rocky Hill, Connecticut is a sculpture in white Carrara marble of a cavalry officer returned from the war holding a girl on his left knee. Placed in Darien in 1867, it has been sited since 1985 on a broad expanse of lawn inside the front gateway at the Rocky Hill Veterans Home and Hospital. The 1985 base is a rough-faced dark gray granite ashlar pier with plain projecting cornice of lighter gray granite. A 2 1/2"-thick piece of marble, not the same stone as the statue but the same size and shape as the bottom of the statue, is between the granite and the sculpture. The seated soldier holds a girl on his left knee. His right foot is forward, with the toe extending beyond the base. His cavalry boots come to his knees. He wears both a coat with wide lapels and a cape thrown back over his shoulders. Sword at his left hip extends forward over the front edge, balancing the position of his right leg. The soldier has moustache but no hat. His head is bent forward and down toward the girl, whom he encircles with his left arm. His right hand is outstretched, as though gesturing, above his right knee. The hem of the barefoot girl's dress comes to her ankles. Her left hand is on the soldier's right lapel; her right hand is at her own left shoulder. Her face is held up to within an inch or two of the soldier's; her hair falls to her shoulders.