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Historical background of Confederate monuments removed from State Capitol grounds

Take a closer look at the State Capitol's Confederate memorials - and the context that accompanied their public unveilings.

Posted Updated
Confederate monument
By
Tyler Dukes
, WRAL investigative reporter, & Heather Leah, WRAL multiplatform producer
RALEIGH, N.C. — The Confederate monuments on the Capitol grounds in Raleigh have long sparked controversy and strong emotions. To some locals, they are a painful reminder of oppression. Other locals, however, feel that the monuments represent their ancestors and culture in the South.
On June 19, 2020, protesters pulled down two bronze statues of Confederate soldiers. Both statues were dragged through the the streets in downtown Raleigh, eventually being tied to light fixtures and pulled up to mimic hangings.
The following morning, construction crews came to remove two other monuments: The Women of the Confederacy and the Henry Lawson Wyatt Monument. Crews spent several days disassembling a third one, the Capitol Confederate Monument, which was found to have a time capsule hidden inside the base.

Here's a closer look at the history of each memorial and the context that accompanied their public unveilings, all of which occurred between 30 and 75 years after the end of the Civil War. 

The Confederate Monument on the west side of the old State Capitol Grounds recognizes that North Carolina troops were the longest serving in the Civil War - the "First at Bethel, Last at Appomattox" (Tyler Dukes/WRAL).

Capitol Confederate Monument

West side of the State Capitol square on Salisbury Street
Dedicated: May 20, 1895

This 75-foot-tall monument is dedicated "To our Confederate Dead" and recognizes that North Carolina troops were among the longest serving in the Civil War – the "First at Bethel, Last at Appomattox."

The monument was controversial even when it was proposed.

At the time of its unveiling, "Populist and Republican leaders objected to any public funding of the monument on the grounds that public education, rather than sectional pride, was a pressing need."

Another outcry occurred in the 1930s in response to the possibility of moving the monument off the Capitol Grounds and onto Nash Square. Raleigh's citizens spoke out against "moving such a historically significant monument from such a highly visible location."

When the monument was unveiled, Julia Jackson Christian, Granddaughter of famous Confederate General Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson, spoke at the event.

During the unveiling ceremony, Col. Alfred Moore Waddell spent a good deal of his public address defending the right of the states to secede from the Union. He denied that the South went to war for slavery – it was "the occasion, not the cause of the war," he said.

"(Slavery) was an institution, guaranteed and protected by the Constitution, as exclusively within the control of the State, and when the equality and reserved rights of the States were attacked by interference with it, there was just ground to believe that other preserved and guaranteed rights would be assailed, and the equality of the States destroyed," Waddell told the crowd.

The memorial's unveiling came at a time when Southern Democrats and their white supremacist campaigns began reversing the short-lived political victories of progressive Republicans in the South in the wake of Reconstruction.

Susanna Lee, an associate professor of history at North Carolina State University, explained the context of the monument, saying, "With the reclamation of that power, came the ability to control the narrative about the causes of the Civil War."

"These monuments being placed outside of courthouses and capitols was a declaration and claiming of public space," she said. "By their positioning, it was a sanctioning of this interpretation."

The Capitol monument's design, an obelisk topped with a "common soldier," was typical of monuments of the time.

"The common soldier monuments were meant to be a stand-in for all Confederate soldiers," Lee said. "It's different from the earlier memorialization of Confederate generals."

Even the memorial's tall stature was common, Lee said, meant "to symbolize the great deeds they performed for the people."

The speech commemorating the unveiling of the monument to Henry Lawson Wyatt, the first Confederate soldier killed in the Civil War, praises North Carolina for its contributions to the war effort (Tyler Dukes/WRAL).

Henry Lawson Wyatt Monument

Northwest corner of the State Capitol square
Dedicated: June 10, 1912

This statue commemorates Henry Lawson Wyatt, the first Confederate soldier killed in fighting during the Civil War at the Battle of Bethel on June 10, 1861.

In his speech commemorating the monument, Edward Joseph Hale used Wyatt's example to praise North Carolina for its contributions to the war effort and decries "the uphill fight which North Carolina waged in the struggle for recognition of her merits."

It's a struggle, in racial overtones, he implored his audience not to take for granted.

The memorial's design differentiates it from others built in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Unlike the looming presence of the Confederate monument just yards away, Wyatt's likeness sits much closer to the ground – and the viewer – making the viewer's relationship with the statue feel much more personal.

The monument to North Carolina Women of the Confederacy commemorated the wives and daughters left behind in the South while men went off to fight the war (Tyler Dukes/WRAL).

Monument to North Carolina Women of the Confederacy

South side of the State Capitol square on West Morgan Street
Dedicated: June 10, 1914
The monument to the North Carolina Women of the Confederacy commemorated the wives and daughters left behind in the South while men went off to fight the war. In the 1914 dedication of the monument, Daniel Harvey Hill praised the strength of Southern women who picked up the slack in the absence of their male counterparts, calling each home's mistress "the greatest slave on the plantation which moved at her command."

Women weren't without aid, as Hill noted in his address at the dedication. He praised the "noble fidelity" of the slaves who stayed with their owners and called it proof of "the kindly relations that existed between the white families and colored families on the plantation home" – and often-repeated theme of the time.

There was a debate about its design, which originally planned to depict a woman and a little girl. It was eventually swapped out for a boy holding a sword. The final version reflected the traditional role for women in raising children with a sense of duty.

Women of the era couldn't yet vote. Culturally, the way women could contribute was by birthing and raising good citizens.

Other monuments on the Capitol grounds

The Confederate monuments stood among about a dozen other memorials commemorating presidents, governors and veterans of several wars.

One monument, a memorial for Samuel A'Court Ashe, who was a prominent North Carolina historian and editor for The News & Observer, has connections with the Confederacy, as Ashe was a Confederate officer; however, it is not specifically a monument to the Confederacy.

Overall, the Capitol Square's lack of diversity has been the cause of controversy, community conversations and protests in recent years.

According to UNC Libraries, the North Carolina State Capitol Memorial Study Committee issued a report to the North Carolina Historical Commission calling for new monuments to be built to honor people and causes that exemplify North Carolina's diversity.

What is the modern cultural context of these monuments?

"When we talk about these monuments and their meaning in present day, it's complicated," said Lee.

As with all historical memorials, Lee said the discussion about where they belong must take into account the context in which they were erected, what they represent – and how they're interpreted today.

"Taking down a monument doesn't erase history," Lee said. "History took place whether or not there was a monument to depict it."

Lee says the Civil War monuments downtown are different than those built to memorialize individual soldiers in graveyards, several of which can be found just blocks away in Oakwood Cemetery. As political campaigns of white supremacy gained ground in North Carolina and across the country, memorials like those at the Capitol spread.

And they were built directly in public spaces, outside centers of government power.

"That association and placement shows their more overt and political intention," said Lee, who often takes her classes to tour the Capitol structures. "They were sort of a declaration of who is in charge now."

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