The "Cavalry Charge" sculpture

As one nears Cavalry Charge, the thought of "Something's not quite right here" begins to form. Gary Owens

This is the view of Cavalry Charge as visitors round Ulysses Grant to the left. Gary Owens

As visitors approach the carnage depicted in Cavalry Charge, they see only the serenity of the U.S. Capitol Reflecting Pool and the background dignity of Ulysses Grant and the Capitol. Gary Owens

Cavalry Charge's companion sculpture, Artillery, is no picnic, either. Gary Owens

Yep. (The man being trampled is ostensibly Henry Shrady, the sculptor.) Gary Owens

Oh my. Is that man trapped in a flag, and being trampled by his own troops? Gary Owens

Closer, closer. ... Gary Owens

The Ulysses Grant Memorial, created by American sculptor Henry Shrady in 1920, dominates the immediate space behind the Reflecting Pool, with the Cavalry Charge and Artillery sculptures flanking it from behind. Gary Owens

Nestled between the prominent Ulysses Grant Memorial and the U.S. Capitol is Cavalry Charge, one of two sculptures behind the Grant Memorial and created by the same artist, Henry Shrady. What makes the Cavalry Charge unusual - and perhaps a candidate for inclusion in Atlas Obscura - is the cameo appearance that Shrady makes in his own sculpture. The sculpture itself portrays the intensity of Civil War action, and in the process shows one of the cavalry riders, wrapped in a Union flag, being trampled in the horses. The unfortunate rider reputedly is modeled after Shrady himself, wearing what might be described as a look of bemused resignation.