Emancipation Monument in the Old Calton Cemetery

Waterloo Place, Edinburgh EH1 3DE

The interactive statuary depicts Abraham Lincoln, a representative Slave, and the concept of Emancipation.  However, it also had a practical purpose − to act as a memorial and burial place for certain Scottish soldiers who fought in the American Civil War of 1861−65, “To preserve the Jewel of Liberty in the Framework of Freedom” in Lincoln’s own words, as they appear on the granite plinth upon which his effigy stands.

This plot of land was given by Edinburgh Corporation to Wallace Bruce, the splendidly-named US Consul in Edinburgh, for this purpose, and six of those soldiers are named on the monument, along with the regiments in which they served. On the main side of the monument a version of the Stars and Stripes appears in the form of a shield, with plants on either side, thistles for Scotland on the left, and cotton for the USA on the right. The monument was unveiled in 1893.

This complex monument is the work of three widely-separately makers. The sculptor and architect was George Bissell, who worked at his father’s marble polishing business at Poughkeepsie, New York. He studied sculpture in Europe, and was resident in Paris during the planning and execution of the ‘Emancipation’ statuary. This explains why he used a Parisienne bronze factory, that of E. Gruet junior, to produce the work.  The architectural setting was carried out by local man Stewart McGlashan, at his steam polishing granite, marble, and stone works, located at Canonmills Bridge, who ran one of the leading companies in this field in Victorian Edinburgh.