Philip Reid solves the Statue of Freedom, and the government pays him for Sundays (Washington, DC, 1860–63)

SUMMARYPhilip Reid solves the Statue of Freedom, and the government pays him for Sundays (Washington, DC, 1860–63) [Connections: Tech & skilled labor, Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDReid worked at Clark Mills's foundry, which cast the Statue of Freedom for the Capitol dome. Mills stated that he bought Reid in Charleston and "paid twelve hundred dollars for him" because of Reid's "evident talent for the business." In 1860 an Italian workman who had assembled the plaster model demanded extra pay, claiming that only he knew how to take it apart. Reid worked out the method: "using a pulley and tackle to pull up on the lifting ring" to reveal the seams. The model came apart in five sections. The payroll lists him at $1.25 a day, above the $1 paid to other laborers, for "Keeping up fires under the moulds." He was paid directly only for Sundays: $41.25 for 33 Sundays, 1 July 1860 to 16 May 1861, signed with an X. His owner received the pay for the other six days. Mills's compensation claim for his freed slaves called Reid "smart in mind, a good workman in a foundry." Reid was freed by the DC Compensated Emancipation Act of 16 April 1862, before the statue went up on 2 Dec. 1863. S. D. Wyeth (1865): "Mr. Reed, the former slave, is now in business for himself."
STATUS: hired-out enslaved (per Mills's purchase statement and the payroll; six days' pay to Mills, Sunday pay of "$41.25 for 33 Sundays" to Reid); free from 16 April 1862 and later "in business for himself" (per Wyeth). Name spelled "Reid" in AOC records and "Reed" in Wyeth

PATTERNThe solution came from the enslaved man, the credit and most of the pay went to the owner, and Mills was compensated when Reid was freed

LENS (WW9)The man who figured out how to raise Freedom over the Capitol was paid one day in seven

OPENReid's origins before Charleston; the amount of Mills's compensation claim; Reid's later business

SOURCEArchitect of the Capitol, "Philip Reid"; US Senate, "In Form and Spirit: Creating the Statue of Freedom". Primary: Mills foundry daily payroll; Reid's pay voucher (1862); Mills's emancipation compensation claim (1862).