Statue of Hans Christian Heg

Hans Christian Heg is a statue by Paul Fjelde that was cast in 1925 and installed at the Wisconsin State Capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin, United States in 1926. The bronze statue depicts the Union soldier and abolitionist Hans Christian Heg. In June 2020, it was torn down by rioters, decapitated and thrown into a lake. The Wisconsin state government will restore and reinstall the original statue.

Statue of Hans Christian Heg
The statue in 2013
Artist	Paul Fjelde
Completion date	17 October 1926 (1926-10-17) (erected)
Medium	Bronze sculpture granite (base)
Subject	Hans Christian Heg
Dimensions	290 cm × 91 cm × 91 cm (9 ft 6 in × 3 ft × 3 ft)
Condition	Removed by rioters
Location	Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.
Coordinates	43°04′28.8″N 89°22′56.9″W

Two further casts of the statue were made in 1925: one stands in Heg Memorial Park, in Racine County, Wisconsin near the Heg family home, and the other in Haugestad, near the family's home town in Norway.

Background

Hans Christian Heg (1829-1863) was a Norwegian American abolitionist, journalist, anti-slavery activist, politician and soldier. He was born at Haugestad in the community of Lierbyen in Lier, Buskerud, Norway, where his father ran an inn. His family emigrated to the US in 1840, and settled at Muskego Settlement, Wisconsin. After two years as a Forty-Niner in California following the California Gold Rush, Heg returned to settle in Wisconsin.

Heg is best known as the colonel who commanded the 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment on the Union side in the American Civil War. He died of the wounds he received at the Battle of Chickamauga. A 10 ft (3.0 m) high pyramid of 8 in (20 cm) shells at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park marks the site on the battlefield where Heg was mortally wounded.

Description

The bronze sculpture measures approximately 9.5 ft × 3 ft × 3 ft (2.90 m × 0.91 m × 0.91 m), and stands on a granite base which measures approximately 6 ft × 5 ft × 5 ft (1.8 m × 1.5 m × 1.5 m).[1]

The statue depicts Colonel Heg standing in his Union Army uniform, with a long belted double-breasted dress coat, riding boots, and girt with a sword to his left side. He has a beard and moustache, and is bare headed, with his Hardee hat held in his right hand.

History

The statue was created in 1925 as a gift of the Norwegian Society of America, which raised funds for its cost. The sculptor was the Norwegian-American Paul Fjelde who, in describing his work said, "The figure that I have created shows a much younger Colonel Heg than his photographs. After all he was a young man, only thirty-three when he died. I tried to regain the spirit of youth which must have been his before the cares of war had aged him beyond his years. I think I have succeeded."[2]

The statue is one of three casts made at the foundry of Ernst Poleszynski[3] in Kristiania, Norway.[4][5] It was shipped in 1925 from Norway on the Norwegian-American Line, arrived in New York on August 21 of that year, and completed the rest of its journey to Madison on September 3. After its arrival, the 2,000 lb (910 kg) crate containing the statue was stored in the northeast pavilion of the Capitol Building. The delay between arrival and dedication lasted for more than a year, and was due to the need to raise some $2,000 to purchase and erect a base for the statue's final home.[6]

Two thousand spectators attended the unveiling of the statue on October 17, 1926 at the Wisconsin State Capitol. It was dedicated "in memory of a distinguished citizen and volunteer soldier of the Civil war period."[1][7][8]

Other casts

A second cast of the statue was erected in Heg Memorial Park, in Racine County, Wisconsin, near the Heg family home, and dedicated in 1928.[9][10][11]

A third cast of the statue has been unveiled in 1925, in Haugestad, near his family's home town in Norway.[12][13][14][3]

Vandalism

The statue in Madison, Wisconsin, was beheaded and thrown in Lake Monona by protestors, incensed by the arrest of a member of Black Lives Matter as demonstrations in Madison turned violent in June 2020,[15][16] despite it being of a Union soldier and abolitionist.[17][18] The Associated Press reported that "it seems likely that few Wisconsinites know Heg's biography".[17][18] On the morning of 24 June, someone painted "Fire Matt Kenny" on the base of the Heg statue.[19] (This was a reference to an incident in 2015, when a police officer shot and killed a 19-year-old black man; the police officer was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, and is still employed.)[19] Another Capitol Hill statue toppled on the same night, Forward, is of a female figure representing Wisconsin's "Forward" motto.[19]

Protester Micah Le said the two statues paint a picture of Wisconsin as a racially progressive state "even though slavery has continued in the form of a corrections system built around incarcerating Blacks."[19] Two protesters interviewed by the Wisconsin State Journal said that toppling the statues was to draw attention to their view of Wisconsin as being racially unjust.[20]

Black student activists had called for the removal of the statue of Abraham Lincoln at University of Wisconsin–Madison in early June 2020, and repeated those calls after Heg's statue was toppled.[21][22]

On July 20, 2020, the Wisconsin Capitol and Executive Residence Board voted unanimously to repair the Colonel Heg and Forward statues. As of that date, the Wisconsin Department of Administration was still compiling a cost estimate, and the Wisconsin Historical Society planned to start a fundraising drive[23] to raise $50,000 to offset the insurance deductible. The board signed off on that effort unanimously as well.[24] At the time of the vote, the head of the statue was still missing,[25] and the Wisconsin State Department of Administration planned to build a new head by recasting the head of a similar Heg statue near the town of Norway, Wisconsin.[26]

See also

• List of monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests

References

1. "Hans Christian Heg, (sculpture)". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
2. Colbo, Ella Stratton (1975). Historic Heg Memorial Park: photographic views and brief historical sketches of the outstanding points of interest in and about Heg Memorial Park, Racine County, Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries: The State of Wisconsin Collection: Racine County Historical Society. p. 30.
3. "Hans Heggs [sic] Minde". Nordisk Tidende. July 23, 1925. p. 2. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
4. "Hans C Heg - Statues of Historic Figures on Waymarking.com". www.waymarking.com. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
5. "Avsløringen av oberst Hegg [sic] - monumentet i Lier". Haugesunds Dagblad (144). June 25, 1925. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
6. "Statue of Col. Hans Heg Now in Capitol Building". Wisconsin State Journal. September 10, 1925. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
7. "Photos: So who was Hans Christian Heg? Here's why the Civil War hero had a statue". La Crosse Tribune. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
8. https://collections.si.edu/search/detail/edanmdm:siris_ari_15203
9. http://www.suvcw-wi.org/memorials/norway_twp_heg.html
10. https://www.racinecounty.com/government/public-works-and-development-services/parks-department/colonel-heg-memorial-park
11. https://collections.si.edu/search/detail/edanmdm:siris_ari_330445
12. https://www.dt.no/nyheter/oberst-hegs-oldebarn-til-lier/s/2-2.1748-1.2785671
13. https://lieropplevelser.no/opplevelser/oberst-hans-christian-heg
14. https://collections.si.edu/search/detail/edanmdm:siris_ari_22150
15. Chiu, Allyson (June 24, 2020). "Wisconsin state senator attacked by protesters as demonstrations in Madison turn violent". The Washington Post. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
16. Viviani, Nick; Purser, Allie. "Protesters topple Forward statue and Heg statue". WMTV (www.nbc15.com). Retrieved Jun 25, 2020.
17. Foody, Kathleen (June 24, 2020). "Targeted sculptures linked to Wisconsin, Civil War history". Yahoo! News. Associated Press.
18. "Anti-racism protesters mistakenly topple statue of US anti-slavery leader Heg, Charleston's Calhoun statue removed after 16 hours". ABC News. 25 June 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
19. Bauer, Scott (24 June 2020), "Wisconsin governor activates National Guard after crowds tear down statues outside Capitol, including one of anti-slavery activist, and attack state senator", Chicago Tribune, Associated Press, retrieved 3 July 2020
20. Meyerhofer, Kelly (25 June 2020). "'Strategic' or 'misguided'? Toppling of statues sparks latest debate on Madison protests". The Wisconsin State Journal/madison.com.
21. Meyerhofer, Kelly (1 July 2020). "University of Wisconsin students call for removal of Abraham Lincoln statue on Madison campus". The Wisconsin State Journal/MSN News. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
22. Reid, Amy (25 June 2020), "UW-Madison students call for removal of Lincoln statue, 'Just because he was anti-slavery doesn't mean he was pro-Black'", Channel 3000, retrieved 3 July 2020
23. "Statue Restoration Fund". Retrieved August 3, 2020.
24. Richmond, Todd (July 20, 2020). "Board OKs restoring Capitol statues, launching money drive". The Star Tribune. Associated Press. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
25. Beck, Molly (July 21, 2020). "State officials can't find Col. Hans Christian Heg's head, will make him a new one". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
26. Richmond, Todd (20 July 2020). "Wisconsin Capitol board agrees to restore 2 statues toppled by protesters". Twin Cities Pioneer Press. Associated Press. Retrieved 20 July 2020.

External links

• Media related to Hans Christian Heg by Paul Fjelde at Wikimedia Commons