Robert Emmet
38.913941, -77.052793 | Political
Cast in 1916, and dedicated on June 28, 1917. This bronze cast statue was rededicated on April 22, 1966. The statue was a gift to the Smithsonian Institution on loan to the National Park Service.
Robert Emmet was an Irish nationalist and Republican, orator and rebel leader. After leading an abortive rebellion against British rule in 1803 he was captured then tried and executed for high treason against the British king. He came from a wealthy Anglo-Irish Protestant family who sympathised with Irish Catholics and their lack of fair representation in Parliament. The Emmet family also sympathised with the rebel colonists in the American Revolution. While Emmet’s efforts to rebel against British rule failed, his actions and speech after his conviction inspired his compatriots.