“The Spirit of the American Doughboy” statue was erected in the Gallipolis City Park in 1931. The statue was paid for by the local Women’s Auxiliary post to honor World War I veterans from Gallia County, Ohio. It is one of over 160 “Doughboy” (a nickname for WWI soldiers) statues designed by sculptor Ernest Moore Visquesney.
The Doughboy monument in the Gallipolis City Park is not one of a kind. It was produced by the artist Ernest Moore "Dick" Visquesney, a veteran of the Spanish-American War, who came up with the idea in 1918. The first “Spirit of the American Doughboy” statue was erected in Nashville, Georgia in 1922. Before his death in 1946, Visquesney made and sold more than 160 bronze, copper, and stone Doughboys and “Spirit of the
