The Dewey Victory Arch, designed by the architect Charles R. Lamb, was constructed to commemorate Admiral George Dewey's success over the Spanish in Manila Bay during the Spanish American War of 1898. The arch was located at Madison Square in New York, on Fifth Avenue, between 24th and 25th Streets. Eminent contemporary sculptors, among them John Quincy Adams Ward, Daniel Chester French, and Karl Bitter, were commissioned to create the sculptural groups adorning this triumphal arch, which was featured during the victory celebrations of 1899. The Arch, constructed hastily in six weeks of staff material or plaster reinforced with hay or burlap fiber, was demolished in 1900. Shinn's drawing is a visual document of this short-lived architectural monument.