Below the garden entrance gate from the bus stop.

A seated kilted infantryman figure on a plinth with a rifle held across his knees looking towards the Castle, appears as though about to rise. At the backdrop is a 50-foot wall with a 25-foot sculpted bas-relief frieze which depicts 'The call to arms', with a cross-section of Scottish working men - miners, shepherds, gamekeepers, farmers and fishermen - being led off to war by a regimental pipe and drum band. The memorial was paid for by The Scottish American War Memorial Committee representing Scottish-Americans as a tribute to the bravery of Scottish troops during World War I. The figure and relief were sculpted between 1924-27 by Robert Tait Mackenzie (1867- 1938), born in Ontario, Canada of Scots parentage and architect Reginald Fairlie (1883-1952) designed the setting. At the bottom of the frieze are lines from E. A. Mackintosh's poem "A Creed". The memorial was unveiled on September 7, 1927.

On the base of the monument text:

THE CALL

1914

A Tribute

From Men and Women of Scottish Blood and Sympathies

in the United States of

AMERICA

TO

SCOTLAND

A People that Jeoparded their Lives unto their Death

In the High Places of the Field JUDGES V 18

At the bottom of the frieze:

IF IT BE LIFE THAT WAITS I SHALL LIVE FOREVER UNCONQUERED; IF DEATH I SHALL DIE AT LAST STRONG IN MY PRIDE AND FREE.

Plaque text:

This memorial was initiated by the Scottish-American War
Memorial Committee. The statue and bas-relief were
sculpted by Canadian Robert Tait Mackenzie (18671938)
and cast at the Roman Bronze Works, Brooklyn, New York.
Mackenzie was a physician and Director of Physical
Education at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Craigleith sandstone setting was designed by
architect Reginald Fairlie.

The memorial was unveiled on the 7th September 1927 by
U.S. Ambassador Houghton, who was given the Freedom of
Edinburgh. The text is from "A Creed", written at Vimy Ridge
in 1916 by Lieutenant E. Alan Mackintosh MC, 18931917,
5th Seaforth Highlanders, 51st (Highland) Division, poet.