Confederate Soldiers Monument (Durham, North Carolina)

Last updated
Confederate Soldiers Monument
“The Boys Who Wore Gray”
Confederate Soldier, Durham, North Carolina.jpg
The monument prior to its removal
Confederate Soldiers Monument (Durham, North Carolina)
Year1924 (1924)
Medium
Dimensions4.6 m(15 ft)
ConditionPartially removed
Location Durham, North Carolina, United States
Coordinates 35°59′38″N78°53′56″W / 35.993953°N 78.899012°W / 35.993953; -78.899012

The Confederate Soldiers Monument (popularly known as "The Boys Who Wore Gray") was a memorial to the soldiers from Durham County who fought for the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War. The statue was seriously damaged by protestors and removed from public view on August 14, 2017.

Contents

Description

The monument was a bronze sculpture (not solid) of a male armed and uniformed Confederate soldier atop a granite base. [1] The plinth also held two lampposts and a pyramid of four cannonballs. The inscriptions on the base read [lower-alpha 1] In memory of "The boys who wore the gray" on the front, This memorial erected by the people of Durham County on the right, and Dedicated May 10th, 1924 on the left. [1]

History

The monument was erected in 1924 in front of the Old Durham County Courthouse in Durham, North Carolina [2] and dedicated on May 10, 1924. [1] The United Daughters of the Confederacy advocated for the statue, but were unable to pay for it. [3] It was paid for with public money—specifically one-half of one percent of local county taxes—through a provision that had to go through the state legislature. [3]

The statue was pulled down and severely damaged by protestors on August 14, 2017, as part of nationwide demonstrations that followed the fatal attack on counterprotestors at Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. For the illegal removal of the statue, the Durham County sheriff's office arrested and charged 7 protestors with multiple felonies and misdemeanors, including felony inciting a riot and misdemeanor disorderly conduct by injury to a statue. [4] (All charges against the protestors were dropped on February 20, 2018. [5] )

Additional protests were held on August 18, 2017, among rumors of a possible KKK rally in opposition to the statue's removal. [6] As part of the August 18 protests, a piece of paper reading "shame" was taped onto the inscription, causing it to read In shame of "The boys who wore the gray". "Death to the Klan" was written below this altered inscription in marker. [7]

The damaged statue was placed into storage by the Durham police. [1] Due to the state's Cultural History Artifact Management and Patriotism Act of 2015, [8] changes to the statue or its base cannot occur without the permission of the North Carolina Historical Commission, [9] and by the same law, the commission can only approve moves to a location equally prominent on the same site.

The Durham City-County Committee on Confederate Monuments and Memorials [10] was created in response to the statue's removal and first convened in April 2018 to issue recommendations on what to do with the remaining base within the confines of this law, as well to catalog and issue recommendations on other Confederate memorials in the area. [11] In early 2019, the Committee recommended that it be displayed inside the county administrative building in its crumpled state. [12] "The committee said displaying the statue in its current damaged form would add important context. The proposal would leave the statue's pedestal in place and add outdoor markers honoring Union soldiers and enslaved people." The proposal needs approval from the Durham County Commission. Durham County maintains that the Cultural History Artifact Management and Patriotism Act of 2015 does not apply, since the law does not address damaged monuments. [13]

Between midnight and 3:00am on Tuesday, August 11, 2020, the base of the monument was removed by officials and transported to an undisclosed location.[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Silent Sam</i> Confederate statue in North Carolina

The Confederate Monument, University of North Carolina, commonly known as Silent Sam, is a bronze statue of a Confederate soldier by Canadian sculptor John A. Wilson, which once stood on McCorkle Place of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) from 1913 until it was pulled down by protestors on August 20, 2018. Its former location has been described as "the front door" of the university and "a position of honor".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Carolina State Capitol</span> State capitol building of the U.S. state of North Carolina

The North Carolina State Capitol is the former seat of the legislature of the U.S. state of North Carolina which housed all of the state's government until 1888. The Supreme Court and State Library moved into a separate building in 1888, and the General Assembly moved into the State Legislative Building in 1963. Today, the governor and his immediate staff occupy offices on the first floor of the Capitol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duke Chapel</span> Church building in North Carolina, United States of America

Duke University Chapel is a chapel located at the center of the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, United States. It is an ecumenical Christian chapel and the center of religion at Duke, and has connections to the United Methodist Church. Finished in 1935, the chapel seats about 1,800 people and stands 210 feet tall, making it one of the tallest buildings in Durham County. It is built in the Collegiate Gothic style, characterized by its large stones, pointed arches, and ribbed vaults. It has a 50-bell carillon and three pipe organs, one with 5,033 pipes and another with 6,900 pipes.

<i>Confederate War Memorial</i> (Dallas) Confederate monument previously displayed in Dallas, Texas, United States

The Confederate War Memorial was a 65 foot (20 m)-high monument that pays tribute to soldiers and sailors from Texas who served with the Confederate States of America (CSA) during the American Civil War. The monument was dedicated in 1897, following the laying of its cornerstone the previous year. Originally located in Sullivan Park near downtown Dallas, Texas, United States, the monument was relocated in 1961 to the nearby Pioneer Park Cemetery in the Convention Center District, next to the Dallas Convention Center and Pioneer Plaza.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confederate Memorial (Wilmington, North Carolina)</span> Monument in Wilmington, North Carolina

The Confederate Memorial was erected in 1924 by the estate of veteran Gabriel James Boney, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and a Confederate veterans association in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina. In August 2021, the City of Wilmington removed it from public land and stored it, awaiting the UDC chapter to take possession.

Confederate monuments and memorials in the United States include public displays and symbols of the Confederate States of America (CSA), Confederate leaders, or Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War. Many monuments and memorials have been or will be removed under great controversy. Part of the commemoration of the American Civil War, these symbols include monuments and statues, flags, holidays and other observances, and the names of schools, roads, parks, bridges, buildings, counties, cities, lakes, dams, military bases, and other public structures. In a December 2018 special report, Smithsonian Magazine stated, "over the past ten years, taxpayers have directed at least $40 million to Confederate monuments—statues, homes, parks, museums, libraries, and cemeteries—and to Confederate heritage organizations."

The North Carolina Green Party is a political party in the state of North Carolina, and the NC affiliate of the Green Party of the United States. It has officially qualified for ballot access as of 27 March 2018, until 2020 statewide election. Since 2006, it has worked in collaboration with other organizations seeking to reform state election laws.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Pike Memorial</span> Statue in Washington, D.C., U.S.

The Albert Pike Memorial is a public artwork in Washington, D.C., erected in 1901, and partially demolished in 2020 by protestors responding to the murder of George Floyd. It honors Albert Pike (1809–1891), a senior officer of the Confederate States Army as well as a poet, lawyer, and influential figure in the Scottish Rite of freemasonry. The memorial—which now only includes the base and Goddess of Masonry sculpture—sits near the corner of 3rd and D Streets NW in the Judiciary Square neighborhood. The memorial's two bronze figures were sculpted by Gaetano Trentanove, the Italian-American sculptor of another Washington, D.C., sculptural landmark, the Daniel Webster Memorial. The dedication ceremony in 1901 was attended by thousands of Masons who marched in a celebratory parade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert E. Lee Monument (Charlottesville, Virginia)</span> Destroyed equestrian statue

The Robert E. Lee Monument was an outdoor bronze equestrian statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee and his horse Traveller located in Charlottesville, Virginia's Market Street Park in the Charlottesville and Albemarle County Courthouse Historic District. The statue was commissioned in 1917 and dedicated in 1924, and in 1997 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was removed on July 10, 2021, and melted down in 2023.

<i>Denton Confederate Soldier Monument</i> Confederate memorial in Denton, Texas, U.S.

The Denton Confederate Soldier Monument was an outdoor Confederate memorial installed in downtown Denton, Texas, in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials</span> Ongoing development in the United States

There are more than 160 monuments and memorials to the Confederate States of America and associated figures that have been removed from public spaces in the United States, all but five of which have been since 2015. Some have been removed by state and local governments; others have been torn down by protestors.

The Cultural History Artifact Management and Patriotism Act of 2015 is a law, SL 2015–170, passed by the General Assembly of North Carolina in 2015. The law's self-description is:

An act to ensure respectful treatment of the American flag and the North Carolina flag by state agencies and other political subdivisions of the state; to establish the Division of Veterans Affairs as the clearinghouse for the disposal of worn, tattered, and damaged flags; to provide for the protection of monuments and memorials commemorating events, persons, and military service in North Carolina history; and to transfer custody of certain historic documents in the possession of the Office of the Secretary of State to the Department of Cultural Resources and to facilitate public opportunity to view these documents.

<i>Fame</i> (Confederate monument) Monument in Salisbury, North Carolina

Fame, also called Gloria Victis, is a Confederate monument in Salisbury, North Carolina. Cast in Brussels, in 1891, Fame is one of two nearly-identical sculptures by Frederick Ruckstull. The monument was removed from public display in Salisbury on July 6, 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Floyd protests in North Carolina</span> 2020 civil unrest after the murder of George Floyd

This is a list of George Floyd protests in North Carolina, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Williams Carter Wickham</span> Monument to Confederate general in Richmond, Virginia

The statue of the Confederate States of America cavalry general Williams Carter Wickham by Edward Virginius Valentine was installed in Richmond, Virginia's Monroe Park in 1891, near Virginia Commonwealth University's main campus. It was toppled in June 2020 during the George Floyd protests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Henry Lawson Wyatt</span> Former monument in Raleigh, North Carolina

A statue of Henry Lawson Wyatt was installed in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confederate Monument (Greenville, South Carolina)</span>

The Confederate Monument is a shaft of granite topped by a marble statue of a soldier—the oldest public sculpture in Greenville—that memorializes the Confederate dead of the American Civil War from Greenville County, South Carolina. The monument is flanked by two period Parrott rifles manufactured at the West Point Foundry.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Confederate Soldiers Monument, Durham". Documenting the American South: Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina. University Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 19 March 2010.
  2. Gelbert, Doug (15 April 2005). Civil War Sites, Memorials, Museums and Library Collections: A State-by-State Guidebook to Places Open to the Public. McFarland. p. 112. ISBN   978-1-4766-0817-4.
  3. 1 2 Eanes, Zachary (16 August 2017). "Durham Confederate statue: tribute to dying veterans or political tool of Jim Crow South?". Herald-Sun . Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  4. "Woman charged in toppling of Confederate statue in NC". CNN. 14 August 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  5. "All Charges Dropped in Case of Toppled Confederate Monument". Associated Press News. February 20, 2018.
  6. "Police confront protesters as rumor of KKK march brings crowd out in Durham". ABC 11 WTVD-TV Raleigh-Durham. 18 August 2017.
  7. ABC11 EyewitnessNews [@ABC11_WTVD] (August 18, 2017). "This is what's left of the confederate monument in downtown Durham" (Tweet) via Twitter.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. An act to ensure respectful treatment of the American flag and the North Carolina flag by state agencies and other political subdivisions of the state; to establish the Division of Veterans Affairs as the clearinghouse for the disposal of worn, tattered, and damaged flags; to provide for the protection of monuments and memorials commemorating events, persons, and military service in North Carolina history; and to transfer custody of certain historic documents in the possession of the Office of the Secretary of State to the Department of Cultural Resources and to facilitate public opportunity to view these documents (PDF) (SL 2015-170). 23 July 2015.
  9. Bridges, Virginia (August 25, 2017). "Durham commissioner: Confederate statue not worth 'the pain and suffering'". The News & Observer.
  10. "City-County Committee on Confederate Monuments and Memorials to Begin Its Work". durhamnc.gov (Press Release). City of Durham & Durham County. 28 April 2018.
  11. Willets, Sarah (6 March 2018). "Durham Confederate Monument Committee Has Its Leaders". News Blog. Indy Week. Archived from the original on 22 August 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  12. Willets, Sarah (January 8, 2019). "What Might Happen to Durham's Toppled Confederate Monument? City, County Leaders Hear Recommendations". IndyWeek .
  13. Drew, Jonathan (January 8, 2019). "N.C. county: Put crumpled Confederate statue in indoor display". Boston Globe .

Notes

  1. The inscriptions are in all capital letters, but are rendered here in sentence case for ease of reading.