Within this marble sarcophagus rests the remains of the Unknown Soldier, a hero of the World War. The Republic has bestowed upon him its most cherished decoration for valor, the Congressional Medal of Honor, and all the major nations associated with America in the Great War have similarly honored his memory and the memory of the thousands of his comrades who laid down their lives in that titanic struggle. [Illustration: ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY--MAINE MONUMENT AND THE MEMORIAL AMPHITHEATER] [Illustration: TOMB OF L’ENFANT] [Illustration: STATUE OF GEN. GEORGE WASHINGTON] CHAPTER XXV STATUES AND MONUMENTS[1] [1] A complete list of the statues and monuments will be found in the Appendix, p. 347. STATUE OF GEN. GEORGE WASHINGTON The most precious work of art in the United States is the life mask of George Washington by the noted French sculptor, Jean Antoine Houdon, who in 1785 was commissioned by the State of Virginia to execute a marble statue of George Washington. Houdon crossed the ocean, setting sail from Paris, France, on July 22 of that year for this purpose, in company with Benjamin Franklin. For 10 days he was a guest of General Washington at Mount Vernon, making studies and a cast. Having made his models, Houdon returned to France, reaching home on January 4, 1786. It took him two years to model and carve the statue, and the completed work arrived at Richmond in 1788. Eight years later the statue was installed in the rotunda of the State capitol, where it stands to-day. The statue represents Washington in the uniform of a Revolutionary officer; and, according to John Marshall, his intimate friend, this three-quarter view corresponds more to the exact likeness of Washington than any other portrait. A copy of this statue is in the Rotunda of the Capitol, the gift of the State of Virginia to the Nation. The life mask is at Mount Vernon. TRIPOLI COLUMN This was the first and only monument that stood in Washington for a period of 26 years. It was erected in memory of the heroes that fell before Tripoli in 1804. It had been made at the expense of officers of the Navy and was brought from Italy in the U. S. S. _Constitution_ to the navy yard, where it was erected in 1808 under the direction of Benjamin H. Latrobe, Architect of the Capitol. Afterwards, when in 1814 the navy yard was burned by the British, it was placed at the west side of the Capitol. During the reconstruction and enlargement of the Capitol to its present size it was removed. In November, 1860, it was taken to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, where it stands to-day. The chief motif of the monument is an artistically designed, simple Doric column, surmounted by an eagle. It was procured through the efforts of Admiral Porter, who commissioned a noted Italian sculptor of the time, Micali, of Leghorn, to execute the monument. [Illustration: TRIPOLI COLUMN, AT ANNAPOLIS, MD.] STATUE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON