Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson were childhood heroes of J. Henry Ferguson (1849-1928), a bachelor banker who organized the Colonial Trust Company and served as its president until his death. He left $100,000 in his will for the creation of a public monument to the two men, whom he wanted held up as good examples for the youth of Maryland. Ferguson had stipulated that the money for the monument could come to the city only after the death of his sister, Mrs. Ella F. Ward. When she died in 1934, the money and very specific instructions were given to the Municipal Art Society of Baltimore City, the organization chosen by Ferguson to organize a design competition and over­see the creation of the monument.

Ferguson's will spelled out exactly what should be represented, what the inscriptions should be, and who should serve as members of the jury for a limited competition. These individuals were also charged with selecting the site for the monument, which had to be within ten miles of City Hall.

Six sculptors were invited to take part in the com­petition, held in 1935: Lee Lawrie, Paul Manship, and Edward McCartan, all of New York; F. William Sievers, of Richmond, Virginia; Hans Schuler, then director of the Maryland Institute in Baltimore; and Laura Gardin Fraser, of Westport, Connecticut. Fraser won. She was one of the very few women who distinguished them­selves in the field of sculpture in the first half of the century. When she won this competition, she was best known as a designer of medals. She was the first woman to receive the Saltus Medal, the highest award for medal designers in the United States. Fraser designed and cre­ated more that one hundred medals. Among her most important designs were for the congressional medals honoring George C. Marshall, Charles Lindbergh, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Admiral Rich­ard E. Byrd. Fraser was also known as an animalier. She had always had a passion for horses and had created many polo trophies, all portraits of famous horses. She was married to another well-known sculptor, James Earl Fraser, who had been her teacher. She was elected to the National Sculpture Society in 1912, the National Academy of Design in 1931, and the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1931.

Source: Kelly, Cindy, Outdoor Sculpture in Baltimore: A Historical Guide to Public Art in the Monumental City, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011.