All we have left of the statue of King George III in Bowling Green is a painting.
Independent Sentinel by S. Noble
Historian Peter Feinman, who founded the Institute of History, Archaeology and Education, seeks to bring the wonder of these subjects to the public and he has dealt with the subject of Confederate and other recently reviled statues.
Few know that there once was a beautiful statue of King George III in Manhattan that arrived from London on April 26, 1770. It was situated in Bowling Green at the southern tip of the island, Mr. Feinman wrote.
The statue, were it to exist today as an exemplary piece of art and history, tells the story of the American Revolution but a mob tore it down.
Besides pulling down the statue of George III, patriots also knocked the ornamental finials from the posts of a wrought-iron fence that still encircles the Bowling Green.
Much of the statue had been melted down into musket balls.
Other remnants of that fateful moment may have come to light at the Monmouth Battlefield State Park in New Jersey. Daniel M. Sivilich, the author of “Musket Ball and Small Shot Identification: A Guide,” said that nine musket balls found there seem to bear the same chemical signature — of lead, tin, copper and antimony — as samples taken from the statue fragments[…]
