[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 126 (Monday, September 12, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 12, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                   A TRIBUTE TO MAJ. GEN. PHIL KEARNY

                                 ______


                       HON. ROBERT G. TORRICELLI

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 12, 1994

  Mr. TORRICELLI. Mr. Speaker, I rise before the House today to 
congratulate the citizens of Kearny, NJ, on the occasion of their 
dedication of a new statue in commemoration of their town's namesake. 
The long awaited arrival of the full size statue of Maj. Gen. Philip 
Kearny will bridge the gap between yesterday and today by bringing to 
life a great figure of our past and allowing us to reflect on the 
significance of our relationship to his contemporaries and their 
struggle.
  Major General Kearny--Fighting Phil Kearny, as he was better known--
was the commander of New Jersey's celebrated First Brigade during the 
Civil War. A superb horseman who had trained in Cavalry techniques with 
the French army, Kearny led the troops of his Jersey Blues fearlessly 
into battle, winning him the esteem of his colleagues and the 
trepidation of his Southern foes. The general's life was cut short at 
the Second Battle of Bull Run as he was reconnoitering his rear guard 
on the immediate aftermath of the Union defeat. Posthumously promoted 
to the rank of major general, Kearny fell in a battle for the 
principles to which we adhere so firmly today.
  Ironically, the statue's presence in Kearny is a product of a near 
mishap. In 1868, the sculptor Henry Kirke Brown was commissioned by the 
State of New Jersey to construct the life size statue of Kearny. The 
original was presented to the U.S. Congress and still claims as its 
home the hallowed halls of this Capitol Building; two copies were also 
cast, one having been sent to Michigan and the other to Newark, NJ. In 
April 1993, the Newark statue fell from its pedestal and toppled to the 
ground. As it was undergoing reparations, a committee of dedicated 
citizens from Kearny gathered and raised the funds needed to cast a 
third copy. On September 10, 1994, the statue will be dedicated to the 
town and placed in front of the U.S. Post Office there.
  Thanks to the dedicated work of the committee's trustees--Walter G. 
Halpin, Howard Hull, Frank W. Jablonski, Matthew T. McClane, Jr., and 
William B. Styple--General Kearny will forever stand among those who 
constitute his legacy, in the town that thought enough of his 
accomplishments to adopt his name. Generations will be able to regard 
the likeness of a hero of yesteryear and translate his historic 
struggle into a message that has meaning for today.
  Mr. Speaker, I call on all of my colleagues to join me in 
congratulating the town of Kearny on this important occasion, and in 
offering a last salute to Maj. Gen. Philip Kearny--the commander of the 
Jersey Blues.

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