Front Base:
N. S. D. A. R.
to the
PIONEER MOTHERS
of the
COVERED WAGON DAYS
built by
The Federal Government
Was Authorized by Congress
and Approved by
Thomas Jefferson in 1806.
Vandalia Marks the
Western Turminius"
member of the Illinois Legislature
First Formulated
Those High Principles
of Freedom and Justice
which gave the slaves
a Liberator,
The Union a Saviour."
OLD TRAILS ROAD
comments
A depiction of a woman in pioneer clothing, with long, shin-length dress, laced boots, a sunbonnet with flowers, and a scarf tied around her neck. In the crook of her proper left arm she holds an infant wearing a short-sleeved shirt and lightly wrapped in a blanket. In her proper right hand is the top of the barrel of a rifle, the butt of which rests on the ground at her side. She appears to be using the rifle as a walking stick. She steps forward on her proper left leg. On her proper right is a small boy, walking while holding the fabric of his mother's dress. He wears a short-sleeved shirt, knee pants, suspenders, and calf-high boots. On the plinth at the figures' feet is a bed of prickly pear cactus and large leaves. The sculpture rests on a square base.
Smithsonian American Art Museum