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Preparing the site.

September I, 1887, an engineer of the association was employed, and a contract was awarded to Messrs. Philips & Ford for excavating and grading, at $450. The engineer was directed to correspond with Mr. Caspar Buberl, a New York sculptor, and to employ him to cut the scroll work around the plinth of the pedestal, which was done.

On June 15, 1887, the treasurer reported that the funds in hand amounted to $55,972.56.

The following letter was laid before the committee in December of the same year by Governor Lee:

My Dear Governor,—I send you a draft on New York for $1,000 as my contribution to the monument to General Lee. I have heretofore contributed, but the amount was not as much as I [203] desired. I desire that this amount be devoted to furnishing a solid granite block for the equestrian statue to rest on, as shown in the enclosed rough sketch, provided it is sufficient for that purpose.


Colonel Anderson was requested to write to Mercie informing him that it was the desire of the association to have the statue of Lee as large as the equestrian statue of Washington, to forward to him the drawing and the measurements of the same made by Engineer Burgwyn, and to ascertain the additional cost. After correspondence, it was agreed that the height of the statue, including the bronze plate, should be six and one-half metres (about twenty-one feet), and the price of the same increased to 90,000 francs, instead of the original price of 60,000 francs.

On March 13th, 1889, on the motion of General Lee, and by a unanimous vote of the board, Colonel Archer Anderson was invited to deliver the address at the unveiling of the Lee Monument.

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