March 5, 2019 - Whitney Plantation adds Ed Hamilton Works to Collection

Ed Hamilton's sculpture 'Spirit of Freedom' was dedicated in July 1998, it depicts three infantrymen and a sailor defending freedom. The Memorial is dedicated to those who served in African American units of the Union Army in the Civil War. 

Ed's personal sculpture collection included the bronze heads of the infantrymen and sailor which have now become apart of the permanent collection of the Whitney Plantation in Wallace, Louisiana. 

Within the boundaries of the “Habitation Haydel”, as the Whitney Plantation was originally known, the story of the Haydel family of German immigrants and the slaves that they held were intertwined. 

In 2014, the Whitney Plantation opened its doors to the public for the first time in its 262 year history as the only plantation museum in Louisiana with a focus on slavery. Through museum exhibits, memorial artwork and restored buildings and hundreds of first-person slave narratives, visitors to Whitney will gain a unique perspective on the lives of Louisiana's enslaved people.

Ed and his family are excited the Whitney Plantation added these pieces to their collection as a permanent fixture of African-American Civil War history.