Published: August 27, 2008 10:20 am         

Sugg’s sculpture of Kosciuszko headed to military academy

West Point Military Academy in New York is acquiring a sculpture from Mississippi artist Tracy H. Sugg for their permanent collection. The sculpture is a bust of General Tadeusz Kosciuszko, a volunteer from Poland who fought in the Revolutionary War and designed West Point.

Sugg, who sculpted a full-size monument of Kosciuszko for the Mississippi city of Kosciusko, Mississippi, is pleased to have her sculpture selected to grace the halls of West Point: “Kosciuszko was such an amazing man of integrity and honor; I can think of no one better to have the cadets look to and try to emulate.”

The sculpture was originally crafted in clay, and shows a fine attention to detail, down to exact copies of the uniform and the medals Kosciuszko wore. Cast using the lost-wax method of bronze casting, the hot metal was poured into a mold made of the clay original, then finished to a rich amber-brown patina.

David Reel, Director of the West Point Museum, stated that while many pieces of artwork are offered to West Point, very few are accepted. Sugg’s work, however, won a place in the permanent collection of the museum due to the excellent craftsmanship and because "[t]he Museum would consider this artifact to be historically important and a suitable work of art for addition to the U.S. Army Historical Collections."

Sugg traveled to West Point and to Kosciuszko’s home in Philadelphia to research the sculpture, finding details tucked into historical archives that were valuable in creating the sculpture. She obtained copies of every existing portrait that was painted of Kosciuszko during his lifetime, and had his uniform re-created by a seamstress who produces historical reproductions for museums and movies.

Highly decorated three-tour Vietnam veteran and West Point graduate Phil Harris is donating the bust to the museum. “Kosciuszko’s importance to the country and to the Academy cannot be overstated.” Kosciuzko’s influence can still be felt on the campus today, and a group of cadets called the Kosciuszko Squadron bears his name.

Kosciuszko’s concepts of forts and defenses were ground-breaking, utilizing modern ideas of warfare that are still in use today. Although his fort designs caused some controversy among more traditional military men of the day who wanted to build castle-like fortifications, Kosciuszko’s designs were readily accepted by the fighting officers on the ground, and it is a testament to his brilliance that no fort Kosciuszko designed was ever defeated in battle.

More than a military man, Kosciuszko included his love for horticulture in the plans for West Point, cleverly concealing fortifications with vegetation. British accounts of an attempted assault on West Point describe advancing to the fort, only to have the rose bushes erupt in flame as the camouflaged cannon behind them began firing.

In his design of West Point as a fort to control the Potomac river, Kosciuszko also visualized building a military academy at the site, and surprised George Washington by including future plans for the Academy in his description of the fort, plans which came to fruition in 1802.

It is fitting that the Polish general with a Mississippi connection should be sculpted by a Mississippi artist.