Unlike many Civil War memorials, Liberty Arming the Patriot is a dynamic composition, depicting a young farmer setting his plow aside, and reaching to take a sword from a classical female figure clad in breastplate and wielding a pike.

The sculpture was commissioned by the Ladies' Soldiers' Memorial Association of Pawtucket, Rhode Island to honor those who served in the American Civil War.

[2] Beneath the farmer and Liberty is a bronze plaque depicting a Union artillery battery under the command of General Ambrose Burnside capturing a bridge in the Battle of Antietam.

It is also historically significant for its association with the Gorham Manufacturing Company, a prominent Rhode Island producer of high quality silverware and bronze statuary.

[1] In Grateful Recognition Of The Valiant And Self-Sacrificing Service To Their Country Of All Persons Who Went From Pawtucket And Its Vicinity To Join The Forces Of The United States During The Civil War.