The equestrian statue General Joseph Hooker, designed by Daniel Chester French and Edward C. Potter, was installed outside the Massachusetts State House in 1903.
Joseph Hooker (1814–1879), known as "Fighting Joe", was a career U.S. Army officer and a major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Although he served throughout the war, usually with distinction, he is best remembered for his stunning defeat by Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863.
The Massachusetts State House, also called the New State House, located in Boston, is the state capitol and seat of government for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Located in the Boston neighborhood of Beacon Hill, the building houses the Massachusetts General Court and the offices of the Governor of Massachusetts. The State House was designed by Charles Bulfinch as a replacement for the Old State House. The cornerstone was laid by John Hancock, who previously used the location as a cow pasture, and the building was completed on January 11, 1798. 80 years later, the original red-brick building was expanded with a rear addition in 1831 (later expanded again in 1856 and and 1895), and two wings made of Vermont marble on the west and east endsin 1917.
The original wood dome, which leaked, was covered with copper in 1802. It was first painted gray and then light yellow before being gilded with gold leaf in 1874, excepting a gray coat during WWII to prevent enemy ships from using the dome to aim their guns. The dome is topped with a pine cone representing the state of Maine, which was a colony of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts when the Bulfinch section of the building was completed
National Register #66000771 (1966)
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