Davidson County Confederate Monument, Healing Spring Township
Carolina Marble and Granite Company, Statesville, NC, Builder
The monument has a square granite base and column. A Confederate soldier stands in contrapposto in full uniform on top of the column. He wears a slouch hat and holds his rifle firmly in both hands. A confederate flag, seemingly blowing in the wind, is carved into the column of the base below the letters "C.S.A." Carved on the sides of the plinth cap are drum-sticks, an anchor and crossed cannon and swords. Inscriptions regarding those soldiers lost in the war are located on the square base of the monument.
Images (courtesy of Natasha Smith):
View in 2018 |
Rear view |
Front inscription |
Rear inscription
Front: ERECTED BY / THE ROBERT E. LEE CHAPTER / OF THE / DAUGHTERS OF THE CONFEDERACY / NO. 324 / SEPT. 14, 1905. / OUR CONFEDERATE DEAD
Rear: SLEEP SWEETLY IN YOUR HUMBLE GRAVES / SLEEP MARTYRS OF A FALLEN CAUSE. / FOR LO A MARBLE COLUMN GRAVES. / THE PILGRIM HERE TO PAUSE. / 1861-65.
Commemorating Honor, Inc. (non-profit)
September 14, 1905. Re-dedication: September 18, 2021
35.616760 , -80.177050
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Hodgin, Carrie. “Confederate Monument to Be Placed on Private Property in Davidson,” WFMYNews.com, October 19, 2020,(accessed December 3, 2021) Link
"Confederate Monument, Lexington, NC," Waymarking.com, (accessed January 28, 2011) Link
"Folder 0438: Lexington: Courthouse: Scan 08", in the North Carolina County Photographic Collection #P0001, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Link
"Main and Center Streets, Lexington, N.C." Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards (P077), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, (accessed January 7, 2014) Link
Butler, Douglas J. North Carolina Civil War Monuments, An Illustrated History, (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2013), 129-131
Lexington North Carolina. "Lexington City Council Adopts Resolution No. 01-21 City Council Adopts Resolution Requesting the Removal and/or Relocation of the Confederate Monument from the Davidson County Square in Uptown," eNews, www.lexingtonnc.gov, July 14, 2020, (accessed August 12, 2020) Link
Myers, Sharon. “Confederate Statue Removed From Lexington Installed Dear Denton,” The Dispatch (Lexington, NC), September 22, 2021, (accessed December 3, 2021) Link
Myers, Sharon. “Davidson County Responds to Announcement of Lawsuit By City of Lexington,’ The Dispatch (Lexington, NC), August 14, 2020, (accessed September 6, 2020 Link
Myers, Sharon. “Former Site of Confederate Statue in Lexington Will Be Home to Replica Declaration of Independence, Constitution,” Record & Landmark (Lexington, NC), October 20, 2021, (accessed December 3, 2021) Link
Myers, Sharon. “Lexington City Council Approves Resolution Asking for Removal of Confederate Statue,” The Dispatch (Lexington, NC), July 14, 2020, (accessed September 6, 2020) Link
Myers, Sharon. “Lexington Files Lawsuit Against Davidson County to Remove Confederate Statue,” The Dispatch (Lexington, NC), August 19, 2020, (accessed September 6, 2020) Link
United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division. Minutes of the Fifth Annual Convention of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division, Held in Charlotte, N.C., October 9, 10, 11, 1901, (Raleigh, NC: Capital Printing Company, 1902), 113, (accessed May 23, 2012) Link
“In Memory of Southern Heroes,” News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), September 15, 1905
“Lexington Removes Confederate Monument Overnight,” WRAL.com, (Raleigh, NC), (accessed October 19, 2020) https://www.wral.com/lexington-removes-confederate-monument-overnight/19339875/ Link
“Our Confederate Dead,” The Historical Marker Database, HMdb.org, (accessed September 11, 2017) Link
Yes
Vermont Barry granite shaft and base, bronze statue
Robert E. Lee Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy No. 324. In 1990s, the Historical Association and the United Daughters of the Confederacy designated the Historical Museum as the administrator of the statue.
$2,025. In 1992 the Davidson County Historical Association awarded a $2,500 grant to the Davidson County Historical Museum for the restoration of the Confederate Soldier, which was heavily discolored and weakened from various falls from its pedestal prior to 1950.
Cyrus B. Watson of Winston-Salem was orator for the event held during the annual reunion of the A.P. Hill Camp of Confederate Veterans. Prior to the unveiling 300 veterans, among a crowd of several thousand in attendance, received Crosses of Honor. Two veterans, C.V.M. Thompson and C.A. Hunt with the assistance of two of their grandchildren unveiled the monument. Music was provided by the Lexington Silver Cornet Band.
On September 18, 2021, the re-dedication event included a Civil War reenactment and a flag-raising ceremony that included the Confederate flag.
“The Man”
Funding to have the statue installed in Valor Park was raised by Commemorating Honor, Inc. a Thomasville, N.C. listed non-profit that was incorporated in December 2020. The property owner donated the land for the park. Volunteers provided much of the labor and supplies to re-erect the statue.
A Charters of Freedom Monument will occupy the former location of the Confederate monument across from the courthouse in Lexington, NC. This memorial is a three-part replica of the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
Following the massacre of nine African Americans in a church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015 by white supremacist Dylann Roof, Americans, especially southerners, have reflected on and argued over the historical legacy of slavery, the Civil War, the Confederacy, and white supremacy. Monuments have been a particular focus of these debates and controversies, especially after the death of a counter-protester, Heather Heyer, at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017 and after President Donald Trump expressed his opposition to the removal of Confederate memorials. Despite laws in many southern states intended to prevent or impede the removal or relocation of historical monuments, protesters and local community leaders have removed or relocated controversial monuments associated with slavery, the Confederacy, and white supremacy. The pace of the removal of controversial monuments accelerated sharply in 2020, following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Against the backdrop of protests against police brutality and white supremacy across the nation, local authorities in many communities in North Carolina removed and/or relocated monuments that were the focus of civil unrest.
On July 13, 2020 Lexington City Council adopted Resolution No. 01-21 which affirms the City of Lexington's unified support in requesting Davidson County remove and/or relocate the Confederate Monument from its current location on the southeast quadrant to the Davidson County square in Uptown Lexington, NC.
A month later on August 13, 2020 the county responded in the form of a press release which stated that the reason for removal based on public safety was not a valid reason. Referencing the 2015 state law governing the removal of monuments on public land the statement said in part: “The justification given by the City Council for removal, that the memorial is a threat to public safety due to recent protests, does not meet any of the limited exceptions provided in the law… Davidson County, through its officials and professional staff, has repeatedly advised the City of the County’s obligation under law to protect all memorials on County property.”
On August 17, the city filed a lawsuit against Davidson County and the Robert E. Lee Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) to authorize the removal of the Confederate statue with the county being responsible for removal costs. In response, the county filed a temporary restraining order against removal of the statue.
Finally on October 15, 2020 Davidson County Superior Court dismissed the restraining order leading to the monument's removal the following day. The removal also came after the city and the Robert E. Lee Chapter of the UDC came to an agreement that the city would pay for the removal and storage of the statue.
The memorial remained in storage until September 2021 when it was relocated to a park on private property in Healing Spring Township, near Denton, NC.
Since September 2021, the monument stands in Valor Memorial Park, on private property, off of Highway 8 in the Healing Springs community in Davidson County, NC.
The monument stands in Valor Memorial Park. This park is privately owned and operated and is not part of Davidson County Parks and Recreation.
The monument was
originally built in the center of the Lexington square in the roadway. After being struck several times by cars, it was relocated to the southeast quadrant of the square, at the intersection of S Main and E Center streets (geo coordinates: 35.82375, -80.25333).
It stood surrounded by shady trees and bushes.
On October 16, 2020, ending months of disagreement between the city and county officials, the memorial was removed during the late evening hours to an undisclosed storage where it remained until being moved to the current location.
It was removed from its location in the southeast quadrant of the square, at the intersection of S Main and E Center streets.
It stood right across from the Historic Davidson County courthouse and nearby several memorials and markers: the northeast quadrant (intersection of E Center and N Main streets) hosts memorials to
Davidson County Vietnam War and Afghanistan Veterans,
WWII and Korean Veterans, and WWI Veterans who died in the Great War.
A marker to Daniel Boone and Nathanael Greene
stands on the northwest quadrant (intersection of W Center and N Main streets) right by Captain Benjamin Merrill
and
City of Lexington
memorials.
The Davidson County Veterans Council used to hold annual Memorial Day services at the former location of Lexington Square in downtown Lexington, NC.
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