Spanish-American War statue honoring Buffalo Soldiers comes to Lakeland - The Ledger

LAKELAND — Dozens of Buffalo Soldier motorcyclists provided an interstate escort to Lakeland's newest memorial as it traveled from Lancaster, Pennsylvania to its new home. 

The Friends of Freedom Monument honoring veterans of the Spanish-American War, particularly the Buffalo Soldiers, arrived at Veterans Park on Tuesday morning. 

For Richard Wilder, president of Buffalo Soldiers Florida, Inc., seeing the bronze statue for the first time is the culmination of years of hard work by dozens of people. 

"It's like a dream come true," he said. "It's so awesome that words don't really and can't really define it." 

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Wilder studied the four-sided monument topped by a sculpture of seven soldiers on horseback before looking out across at the Buffalo Soldier Motorcycle Club members who gathered. 

Michael Haynes, a member of the Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club Orlando Chapter, rode with the entourage who escorted the monument to Lakeland. Haynes said there are eight chapters across Florida whose mission is to pay homage and educate the public about the national 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments, racially segregated African American units who came to be known as Buffalo Soldiers. 

"It's an honor to support what all of this is about, we have never experienced anything like this," Haynes said. "I believe questions will be asked when people see it and as a result, it will help educate the public." 

The memorial was envisioned when Polk County Veterans Council recognized the Spanish-American War was the only major conflict that was not represented in Veterans Park. Cynthia Haffey, executive director of Platform Art, Inc., said she was approached to commission the monument as part of its signature public art program began to delve into local history. 

There were 9,000 soldiers stationed in Lakeland during the war, as overflow from Tampa. The Buffalo Soldiers were among the first to arrive in the city. Some of Lakeland's streets, like Massachusetts Avenue, are named after the home states of different units camped nearby, according to Wilder. 

"We had no idea the history played such a part in our community," Haffey said. "The fact the Buffalo Soldiers were here adds significance to the story." 

Envisioning the monument

Haffey reached out to artist Becky Ault, co-founder of ART Design Group and ART Research Enterprises, Inc. in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Ault has created other monuments around Lakeland including statues of Joker Marchant and George Jenkins outside Joker Marchant Stadium, and Linesmen Memorial outside Lakeland Electric. 

Ault said she agreed to undertake the nearly three-year project as she felt moved to do the "socially conscious" piece. 

"We are telling the story of some forgotten people, when I say that it can be a community, a group or a city, wherever people gathered together and did something for good," she said. "People were here doing good and we should tell their story." 

There are very few Spanish-American War memorials that recognize the contributions of the Buffalo Soldiers, according to Haffey. One is located in Kansas and West Point dedicated a monument in September 2021. 

"It's a traditional statue of one horse and one rider," Ault said, speaking of West Point's memorial. "Ours is unique as it has seven horses and seven men on top. It tells you it takes a community with teamwork, a group of people to make something happen." 

How is it made? 

Platform Art worked with students from Santa Fe Catholic High School in Lakeland and Lake Region High School in Eagle Lake to sketch out the scenes from the Spanish-American War. Eight students' works were selected by Ault to be sculpted into reliefs and incorporated into the memorial. 

Each side of the monument has scenes mixed with portraits, landscape and text to create a rich, three-dimensional visual story of the war.

"This monument tells the story all the way around in reliefs - I tell you school children are really going to notice it," Mike Cunningham, founder and co-owner of Art Research Enterprises, said. 

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The sculpture that sits at the top the monument features seven horses and riders sitting side-by-side. The figures went through a lengthy process as they were sculpted in clay, made into a rubber mold, then cast in wax before making a ceramic shell used to cast the final bronze sculpture. 

"They are not all in the same pose, they are each different," Ault said. "Even if you tried to make them all the same, it's the human element that you can't make them the same each time." 

Once assembled, the bronze monument was purposefully put through a patina process to age the metal, giving it different hues and depths to make reliefs pop, according to Ault. Cunningham applied gold and silver leaf to highlight points on the monument. 

"This is the most significant sculpture in Veterans Park," Haffey said. "Even nationally, it's significant and impactful." 

The total cost for the statue was more than $200,000 to produce. A documentary titled "Those Men That Came Before" was made during the process that talks about Lakeland's role in the Spanish-American War and the Buffalo Solders. 

Educating the public

Wilder wasted no time on Tuesday morning pulling aside three homeschooled children admiring the monument to explain its significance. The students had walked up to the monument, reaching out and touching some of the reliefs. 

"It just oozes education," Walker said. "When someone approaches that memorial and take time to really study it, you can look at it and it tells a story."

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Walker said he hopes the new monument will be embraced as a display of Lakeland's legacy. He hopes it will not become a point of controversy as some statues, such as Confederate monuments, have across the nation. 

"I hope whoever comes here and views this memorial can learn and take something from it," he said. "Put aside your prejudices and your negative thoughts and come out here." 

The monument will be officially be dedicated during Polk County Veterans Council's upcoming Veterans Day events starting 10 a.m. on Nov. 12. Platform Art will host a luncheon following the ceremonies at 1 p.m. featuring speaker Dr. Aundrea Matthews, president of the Buffalo Soldiers Association of West Point, who will talk about how public art monuments can serve as historical markers. 

Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at swalsh@theledger.com or 863-802-7545. Follow on Twitter @SaraWalshFl.

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2022-10-26 09:00:24Z
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