The equestrian statue, designed by sculptor Frederick William MacMonnies, was dedicated in 1905 in honor of Henry Warner Slocum, who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War and later as a U.S. Representative from the state of New York.

Following the war, he moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he served several terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives.

In 1895, the city government of Brooklyn passed a law allocating funds to the erection of the statue, the cost of which was not to exceed $30,000.

American sculptor Frederick William MacMonnies, who at the time was operating out of Paris, was contracted to design the statue.

[2][3] The pedestal was designed by architect Stanford White, with the location of the monument being the intersection of Eastern Parkway and Bedford Avenue.

[3][6] The largescale ceremony commenced with a playing of the song "Hail, Columbia", followed by an invocation by Bishop Frederick Burgess of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island.

[5] Art historian Kathryn Greenthal compares the "dramatic image" of Slocum raising his sword triumphantly to similar equestrian statues of the time, including Augustus Saint-Gaudens's General John Logan Memorial (dedicated in 1897).