Jackson's horse at the Battle of New Orleans was named Duke; but Mills modeled the horse from his own horse named Olympus. Mills trained his horse to pose on its haunches. He also borrowed Jackson's uniform from the U.S. Patent Office, where it was being preserved. He completed a plaster model, and he established a new bronze foundry to produce the casting at his studio on 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, south of the Treasury Building.
