Photo provided by Jana Dopson, Atlanta, Georgia.

GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA

FIRST "SPIRIT OF THE AMERICAN DOUGHBOY" DEDICATED

Formerly at  N 34° 55.525 / W 082° 26.629, now in museum.

Copyright version 1920, sheet bronze.

Smithsonian Art Inventory Control Number: NO ENTRY.

Above is the statue as it once stood in the center of a circle near Furman Lake dam on the campus of Furman University. The Doughboy suffered extensive damage, including the loss of the left hand, rifle and bayonet, after the above photo was taken.

The engraving on the front of the granite base reads:

FURMAN MEN WHO GAVE
THEIR LIVES IN
THE WORLD WAR
(followed by six names)

An engraving on the back reads:

MORE THAN FIVE HUNDRED
FURMAN MEN SERVED
IN THE WORLD WAR

An inscription on a metal plaque on the ground in front of the base reads:

FURMAN UNIVERSITY
IN MEMORY OF
THOSE WHO PAID THE SUPREME SACRIFICE
IN WORLD WAR II
(Followed by a three column list of 55 names)

Originally dedicated at the joining of roads leading to the Library, Alumni Hall and Manly Field the final day of commencement week, June 7, 1921. When Furman moved during the 1950s, the Doughboy was placed at the location near Furman Lake dam. While this statue was the first Viquesney Doughboy to be dedicated and placed on permanent public display, it is not the first Viquesney Doughboy to be fabricated; that one was placed in Nashville, Georgia later in the summer of 1921.

When the Furman Doughboy was first dedicated, hundreds of area residents turned out at the old campus in downtown Greenville. A bugler played taps as Mrs. T.J. Lyons, the mother of a Furman student who died in France during the war, gently loosened the fastening of the American flag that shrouded the statue.

An article in the July 1921 issue of the Furman Bulletin reported that the "handsome statue with splashes of molten gold and the youthful figure of an American Doughboy in France, preserved in lasting metal and stone, stood revealed to the eyes of the expectant throng." When the statue was uncovered, "applause broke forth. Tears filled the eyes of beholders and ex-service men wept as they saw the figure, so life-like, emerge."

Above:  After suffering years of neglect, dents, and vandalism, Furman University's original Doughboy, was retired to the Upcountry History Museum.  It was initially placed in storage, then moved to the museum's classroom (right) in December, 2007, so that student visitors learning about World War I could view it.

Temporary display inside the University Library.

Update, January, 2017, above: For the 100th anniversary of America's entry into WWI, the statue was moved to the main floor of Furman University's library (above).

Update, September, 2017, right: The statue was moved back into the basement of the museum. Photo: Dan Buis, Tour of Honor rider.

2007: Former location in museum classroom.

Update, April, 2016, above: The statue was moved to the basement of the museum. Photo: Joe Howle, Tour of Honor rider.

Update June 30, 2019, below: The statue is now back upstairs in a new display. Photo: Joseph "Snoop" Smith, Tour of Honor rider.

After the Doughboy was retired to the museum, a completely new replacement was cast in bronze by sculptor Maria J. Kirby Smith in 2004 and placed on campus in a new plaza.