Melzar Hunt Mosman (March 10, 1843 – January 11, 1926) was an American sculptor who made a number of Civil War and Spanish–American War monuments in Massachusetts.
In 1860 Mosman went to work at Ames, where he produced drawings for presentation swords.[1] He graduated from Chicopee High School in 1862.[2]
Military service
A few weeks after graduating high school, Mosman joined the 46th Massachusetts Infantry, where he saw combat in the Newbern, North Carolina, area.[1][2] He was transferred to an engineering unit that was tasked with preparing for the Siege of Vicksburg. He mustered out in 1864 after contracting a near fatal fever.[2]
Sculpting
Ames Manufacturing Company
After the leaving the Union Army, Mosman returned to the Ames foundry, where he cast cannons for use in the war.[3] In 1867 he traveled to Paris to work in a foundry there. He later studied casting methods in Italy and the German Empire.[1][2]
From 1870 to 1871 he sculpted Westfield, Massachusetts' Civil War Memorial. It was dedicated on May 30, 1871.[4]
On January 9, 1874, Mosman was paid $10,000 by Middletown, Connecticut, to sculpt a Civil War monument.[5]
Mosman designed a Civil War monument for Henry E. Hone of Saugus, Massachusetts, which was erected in the rotary at Saugus Center in 1875.[6][7]
Mosman designed and sculpted Bridgeport, Connecticut's soldiers' monument. The monument was the largest and most expensive in the state and Mosman was said to have received $18,500 for his work. It was dedicated on August 17, 1876.[8]
In 1883 he sculpted Northampton Remembers, bronze statues of a Civil War soldier and sailor that adorn the entrance of Memorial Hall in Northampton, Massachusetts.[10][11]
Chicopee Bronze Works
In 1884, Mosman left Ames after a dispute and started his own foundry, the Chicopee Bronze Works.[1]
Mosman did the bronze sculptures (three muskets, a drum, knapsack, cartridge box, and canteen) for the 10th Massachusetts Infantry Monument. The monument marks the position of the 10th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment on the Gettysburg Battlefield on July 3, 1863. It was dedicated on October 6, 1885.[12] That same year, another one of his sculptures, a civil war monument, was erected in Court Square in Springfield, Massachusetts.[11]
In 1906, Mosman sculpted the Spanish American Veterans Memorial erected by the Friends of the Second Massachusetts Infantry Regiment in Memorial Square, Springfield, Massachusetts.[18]
Mosman's final work was Chicopee High School's World War I memorial.[2] He died on January 11, 1926, at his home in Chicopee.[26]
Gallery
Middletown Soldiers' Monument
Minuteman Statue, Concord, Massachusetts, by D.C.French
Saugus Civil War Monument
Bridgeport Soldiers Monument
Springfield Civil War Monument
10th Massachusetts Infantry Monument
Massachusetts Monument, New Bern National Cemetery
Gardner Spanish–American War Monument
The Spanish War Veteran, Lawrence, Massachusetts
The Spanish War Veteran, Revere, Massachusetts
The Spanish War Veteran, Winthrop, Massachusetts
Chicopee World War I Memorial
References
^ abcdefghShapiro, Michael Edward (2009). Bronze Casting and American Sculpture, 1850–1900. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN9780786442270.