Scottish American Memorial - The Call 1914
Details:
Below the garden entrance gate from the bus stop. Monument A seated kilted infantryman figure on a plinth with a rifle held across his knees looking towards the Castle, appears as though about to rise. At the backdrop is a 50-foot wall with a 25-foot sculpted bas-relief frieze which depicts 'The call to arms', with a cross-section of Scottish working men - miners, shepherds, gamekeepers, farmers and fishermen - being led off to war by a regimental pipe and drum band. The memorial was paid for by The Scottish – American War Memorial Committee representing Scottish-Americans as a tribute to the bravery of Scottish troops during World War I. The figure and relief were sculpted between 1924-27 by Robert Tait Mackenzie (1867- 1938), born in Ontario, Canada of Scots parentage and architect Reginald Fairlie (1883-1952) designed the setting. At the bottom of the frieze are lines from E. A. Mackintosh's poem "A Creed". The memorial was unveiled on September 7, 1927.
Monument Text:
THE CALL
1914
A Tribute
From Men and Women of Scottish Blood and Sympathies
in the United States of
AMERICA
TO
SCOTLAND
A People that Jeoparded their Lives unto their Death
In the High Places of the Field JUDGES V 18
At the bottom of the frieze:
IF IT BE LIFE THAT WAITS I SHALL LIVE FOREVER UNCONQUERED; IF DEATH I SHALL DIE AT LAST STRONG IN MY PRIDE AND FREE.