Daniel Chester French's Minute Man, an 1874 bronze, rises in front of you in Minute Man National Historical Park in Concord. The bronze figure you see was created between 1871 and 1874 after extensive research; it was originally intended to be made of stone, but the medium was switched to bronze and the statue was cast from ten Civil War-era cannons appropriated by Congress. The statue shows a minuteman stepping away from his plow to join the patriot forces at the Battle of Concord at the start of the American Revolutionary War.
Notice the overcoat thrown over his plow and the musket in his hand, small, telling details French chose to preserve. Nineteenth-century art historians noticed a resemblance to the Apollo Belvedere; until the late twentieth century many assumed the pose was transposed from that earlier statue. French's own journals reveal the Apollo was only one of several statues studied during his research.
The work was unveiled in 1875 for the centennial of the Battle of Concord and received critical acclaim; it continues to be praised and has served as a suffragette symbol. Notice the overcoat draped over the plow and the musket in his hand, details French chose with care.