Michigan Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, Detroit

The Michigan Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument is a Civil War monument located in Detroit. This example of civic sculpture stands in a prominent downtown location on the southeast tip of Campus Martius Park where five principal thoroughfares - Michigan Avenue, Monroe Street, Cadillac Square, Fort Street, and Woodward Avenue - convene on the reconstructed traffic circle in front of Compuware World Headquarters.

Rogers' design consists of a series of octagonal sections that rise up from the base of the monument. The lowest sections are topped by eagles with raised wings that guide the eye upward to the next section which is surmounted by four male figures depicting the Navy, Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery branches of the United States Army. Four female allegorical figures, resting on pedestals, are above the male statues and represent Victory, History, Emancipation, and Union were not added to the monument until 1881. Local lore claims Rogers used Sojourner Truth, the famous African-American abolitionist, as his inspiration for the Emancipation statue, but little evidence exists to document this belief. There are also four plaques containing bas-reliefs of the Union leaders Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, and Farragut. Capping the monument, the heroic "Amazon figure" Michigania, or Victory, brandishes a sword in her right hand and in her other she raises a shield, prepared for attack.