Rhode Island Man Outlives His Death in Imposing Bronze Statue

In the heart of Little Compton, Rhode Island, where two old cemeteries define the landscape, one grave stands out among the rest.

It's the grave topped by a stately statue of the man buried beneath it. You can't miss it because it's the only statue in sight.

Henry Tillinghast Sisson was worthy of the honor, one a future U.S. president helped bestow.

Who Was Henry Tillinghast Sisson

A lifelong resident of Litte Compton, Sisson became one of the sleepy town's most prominent residents in the 19th century -- for three distinct reasons.

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At 30 years old, he participated in the First Battle of Bull Run, the first major battle of the Civil War, under fellow Rhode Islander General Ambrose Burnside, whose muttonchops were said to be the inspiration for the term "sideburns."

Sisson had started as a lieutenant and paymaster for the First Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry Regiment. In November 1862, a year after Bull Run, he was promoted to colonel.

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In 1874, he was elected lieutenant governor of Rhode Island as a Republican, serving in office from 1875 to 1877.

If those accomplishments weren't enough, Sisson also patented a contraption that used springs and strings to secure papers. Today, we'd call that a binder.

Sisson lived in a Sakonnet Point mansion built by his father for use as a hotel.

Henry Tillinghast Sisson's Fascinating Grave

Sisson died at the mansion in 1910 at age 79. He was buried at Union Cemetery, across the street from the larger Commons Cemetery in the shadow of United Congregational Church.

At first, his grave blended in with the others.

That changed in 1919 when Rhode Island sculptor Henri Schonhard made a life-size bronze statue of the veteran. The statue towered over Sisson's final resting place, instantly visible to travelers on the road.

The coolest part of this story is that Calvin Coolidge was on site to unveil the work of art. Coolidge was the governor of nearby Massachusetts at the time, and four years away from serving as the 30th U.S. president.

Sisson's statue is a bit weathered these days, more than a century after it was placed, but this Little Compton legend still cuts a striking figure in the town that made him.