A statue of the Irish hero Robert
Emmet stands in Triangle Park at Massachusetts Ave, 24nd Street, and S Streets,
NW. Jerome Connor, a DC Irishman who cast the statue at the Washington navy
yard, sculpted it, it was the first statue to be cast in the District of
Columbia.
After its unveiling the bronze
statue, standing 7-feet tall, was placed in the rotunda of the Museum of
Natural History until 1964 when it was taken down and placed in storage. In
1966, the statue was taken out of storage and placed in Triangle Park.
Robert Emmet, at the age of 25, led rebellion
against British rule in 1803 and was captured, tried and executed. The English,
being the English, then beheaded him. Since various members of his family were
arrested simply for being related to the young man, no one claimed his body.
His last words were “I have but a
few more words to say — I am going to my cold and silent grave — my lamp of
life is nearly extinguished — I have parted with everything that is dear to me
in this life, for my country’s cause; with the idol of my soul, the object of
my affections. My race is run, the grave opens to receive me, and I sink into
its bosom. I have but one request to make, at my departure from this world– it is
the charity of its silence. Let no man write my epitaph: for as no man, who
knows my motives, dare now vindicate them, let not prejudice nor ignorance
asperse them. Let them rest in obscurity and peace. Let my memory be left in
oblivion, and my tomb remain uninscribed until other times and other men can do
justice to my character; when my country takes her place among the nations of
the earth, then, and not until then, let my epitaph be written. I am done.”
Robert Emmet's older brother,
Thomas, immigrated to the United States after Robert's execution and would
eventually serve as the New York States Attorney General.