 On March 2 , 1889 , Congress authorized the erection of a memorial to Sheridan and appropriated $ 50 @,@ 000 for its construction . The original sculptor chosen to complete the project was Sheridan 's friend John Quincy Adams Ward , who had completed other works in Washington , D.C. , including Major General George Henry Thomas and the James A. Garfield Monument . Ward signed a contract with the Sheridan monument commission in 1892 which called for the equestrian statue to be completed by 1898 . He submitted a sketch of the model in 1892 , but that design was not approved . Not only did Ward not complete the work by 1898 , he had only completed a life @-@ size study of Sheridan 's head by 1903 . Ward finally completed a model of Sheridan , but when Irene and her son , Philip Sheridan Jr . , visited Ward 's studio in New York to see the model , they both hated it . He was depicted as a stout older officer atop a stilted horse . The commission eventually cancelled the contract with Ward in 1905 . His model of Sheridan was eventually cast in 1916 and stands in front of the New York State Capitol . 
