The fenced pool in front of the Capitol in this 1860s stereoview photograph once served as a pedestal for the oldest military monument in the nation. The 30-foot high memorial honored naval heroes of the First Barbary War (1801-1805), one of the new nation’s first overseas military endeavors. By the time of the photograph, the statue was gone, leaving either an “open basin full of gold fishes flashing in the sun” or a “pond of dirty fresh water, (not large enough for a small duck puddle)” depending on who you asked.
