Services of the Union in the Civil War(Quartermaster Forces)

Responsible for the procurement and transportation of supplies to the Union Army, the work of the Quartermaster General in the Civil War is represented in this sculpted panel by a baggage wagon, a driver and six mules.  Of particular note is the driver, depicted as a freed black man.  Artist Caspar Buberl consulted extensively with Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs regarding the inclusion of this figure.  Meigs confirmed that many baggage wagon drivers during the war were former slaves, who had dedicated their services to the army.

Constructed between 1882 and 1887, the Pension Building provided much needed space for the U.S. Pension Bureau following the Civil War.  Supervising architect-engineer General Montgomery Meigs envisioned a building adorned with a classically inspired monumental frieze, depicting the men who served, suffered, and sacrificed on behalf of the Union in the Civil War.  In order to make this enormous frieze economically feasible, Meigs commissioned artist Caspar Buberl to carve six interchangeable panels, which were then duplicated by the Boston Terra Cotta Company to wrap the 1,200 foot long facade.  The plaster casts seen here were taken from Buberl’s original sculpted clay panels, and were utilized during construction as the benchmarks against which to check the many terra cotta copies arriving on site.