The Cavalryman Statue

The Cavalryman Statue. . , “The Cavalryman" depicts a dismounted United States soldier, saddle in hand, serving on the Southwest frontier. "It should inspire all who view it with a determination to preserve the heritage which is theirs through the sacrifices of their forebears,” wrote President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the occasion of the statue's dedication in March 1940., Percival Henderson (1860-1918), a mining expert and long-time resident of El Paso, purchased this plot of land in front of the Scottish Rite Temple. He intended to erect a monument in honor of his recently deceased friend, William Crawford Harvie (1864-1915), a local businessman, civic leader, and member of the Scottish Rite Consistory. Henderson died before he completed his memorial, so the execution of his plans was left to his nephew, Richard H. Eurich (1886-1970). In keeping with Henderson's will, Eurich chose a theme that highlighted El Paso's historic ties to the United States military, the cavalryman., José Ruiz de Rivera (1904-1985), a Louisiana-born sculptor, was commissioned to carve this 9-foot statue from Pennsylvania black granite. A student of John W. Norton at Chicago's Studio School, Rivera is best remembered today as an Abstract Expressionist who designed curvilinear metallic sculptures in the Art Deco and Cubist styles. “The Cavalryman” reflects an Art Deco style and is reminiscent of Regionalism, an art movement of the 1930s that inspired artistic images of the American heartland., This monument is a rare example of a triple commemorative. It pays tribute to an enduring icon of the American Southwest, the frontier soldier. It directs our gaze to an important El Paso landmark, the Scottish Rite Temple. And it celebrates the deep and enduring friendship between two men, William Crawford Harvie and Percival Henderson, who helped forge the great city of El Paso during its pioneer years., The Renaissance Fund, El Paso Community Foundation