Who broke George Washington's walking stick at the SC Statehouse?
Was it yankees? Rebels? An ex-governor?
What is arguably the most photographed statue at the South Carolina capital is not even that of a South Carolinian.
At the base of the Statehouse steps is a regal likeness of America's first president, George Washington. It stands vigil over the grounds, gazing through bronze-cast eyes across generations of impassioned speeches, protests and demonstrations.
Based off an 18th century marble likeness struck by French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon for Virginia's legislature, the replica is one of a series of just six bronze copies cast by Richmond artist William James Hubard before the Civil War. It portrays the nation's first president not as some deified version of himself, but as a common man, an ideal to which any American could aspire.
"They wanted Washington to be relatable," said Lydia Brandt, a professor of art history in the McCausland College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Carolina. She wrote a book on the history of South Carolina's Statehouse monuments in 2021.
"They wanted late-18th, early-19th century Americans to look at that statue and see themselves, to see their potential to rise to Washington's level of greatness as a leader and, specifically, as someone who had the opportunity to be king and chose not to," she said.
There is just one flaw in South Carolina's statue that sets it apart from the rest: half of Washington's walking stick is missing.
What happened? …