Carving Patches

Over the long history of the carving and the many carvers, it was inevitable that mistakes would be made. While some could be corrected by further carving, there were cases where material had to be added. This was done by patching the carving by installing large blocks of granite where needed. These patches are known as dutchmen.

A total of ten dutchmen were used to complete the carving. Some are larger and more obvious than others. The first dutchman to be added was along the upper profile of Robert E. Lee's chest, in order to improve the ratio of the size of his head to that of his body.

Perhaps the most obvious were the two dutchmen added to the bottom of Robert E. Lee's forearm, in a further attempt to increase the size of his body to match the head. These were the first to be added in such a way that their full weight had to be supported.

Here is another view of the dutchmen in Lee's forearm.

Dutchmen were used to correct errors in the forehead, eyebrow, collar, and beard of Stonewall Jackson.

Another dutchman was used to restyle the hat of Jefferson Davis.

One more was added to lower Traveller's jaw.

Two additional patches below Lee's arm

Close-up of above two patches