The work was accomplished under external difficulties. In the first place the construction of an armature for so huge a group was no small undertaking. It was built of heavy timbers, boards and lath and looked something like the pictures of the Trojan Horse. It wasn’t as commodious, perhaps, but several able-bodied men could work inside it--and did. A new studio was under construction with the sculptor supervising all details. And outweighing all physical handicaps was the mental strain of his work on Stone Mountain, where things were rapidly approaching a crisis. However, for his creative work there was always one tranquil spot in his brain that no outside disturbance could enter. He believed in changing his models frequently, stopping only when he could see what he thought to be right. Jesse Tucker, the Stone Mountain engineer, recalls that this was one feature of his sculpture in which he would permit no compromise. At one stage of the Sheridan memorial, Tucker pointed out, the sculptor was seriously handicapped by lack of funds. Everybody in the studio knew that he would receive a substantial sum as soon as the group was finished and ready for casting. And one evening it looked as though this happy moment had arrived. Gutzon walked around the model, seriously studying it. He stopped and picked up an ax. “Tucker,” he said, “I believe I can improve that horse.” And without further discussion he began to hack down part of the armature and added two weeks to the work. This habit was well known to his assistants. Once his colored attendant, Banks, reported on the progress of a statue: “Guess the boss is about through. He’s started pulling it to pieces.” The personal contacts he made during the production of the Sheridan monument were particularly pleasing to Gutzon. “Big Bill” Thompson, storm center of political controversy, was mayor of Chicago at the time. They became warm friends. Stamford political leaders declined an invitation to meet the mayor when he was due to look at the models, but Thompson knew nothing about that. He arrived at the studio accompanied by nine carloads of New York politicians. Michael J. Faherty, Chicago’s commissioner of public works, was the mayor’s first deputy in the memorial project. He had a summer home near Hartford and would drop in at the studio at unexpected moments on his frequent trips back and forth from Chicago. His chief interest was in the development of the oversize model of horse and rider that nearly filled the studio.