Gutzon modeled the horse and rider in clay, in the size that they would have in bronze, which was another important characteristic of his work. He never turned over a small model to others to have it enlarged by mechanical process, as was being done by some sculptors. He wanted his own modeling, the imprint of his thumb, to appear in the finished work. He wanted to get the spirit of the action and pose. If he were to expend creative effort on a sketch, he declared, he would have lost interest by the time he came to make an exact copy on a larger scale. There has been considerable controversy over Sheridan’s ride to Winchester. Some writers, like Joseph Hergesheimer, have maintained that the wild gallop was only a mild trot. General Crosby and General Forsyth, brother officers of Sheridan, favored the accepted version. So would any cavalry officer. No matter how he might have been riding at the start, he was certainly riding as fast as the horse could take him when he came up with his defeated command. An eyewitness of the ride, Private Frederick Bullis of the New York State volunteers, reported: I was near enough to him to touch his horse when he got there. There were lumps of foam as big as my fists on the horse’s face, and his nostrils were bleeding. Sheridan stood up in his stirrups and yelled “Face the other way! Face the other way!” He kept yelling it over and over. He was swinging his sword and swearing like a demon. The monument was unveiled with much pomp and circumstance on November 25, 1908. Mrs. Sheridan herself pulled the cord that held the draperies in place. There was a parade of the armed forces that included every branch of the services. There were speeches by notables and concerts by brass bands. There was also a long account of the event in the Omaha _Bee_. The correspondent identified Gutzon Borglum as an Omaha boy, which, indeed, he once had been. The turbulent figure of Sheridan was acclaimed as one of the greatest military statues in America. Critics noted the anatomical perfection of the horse and the faithful picturing of the general as a young man. But their praise was for the terrific action in bronze sculpture--the captured fear and climax of battle. It is hard to imagine that this memorial and the monument to President Lincoln in Newark were both the work of the same artist. Lincoln, shown in a moment of deep dejection during the Civil War when the news from the front was bad, is pathetic. He is every man’s friend just as he is every man’s other self, face to face with unhappiness, harried by disaster.