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Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina
Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina
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Source:  Confederate Soldiers Monument, Snow Hill. Photograph by Tom Vincent

  • Monument Name

    Greene County Confederate Monument, Snow Hill

  • Type

    Marker

  • Subjects

    Civil War, 1861-1865

  • City

    Snow Hill

  • County

    Greene

  • Description

    This monument was erected in 1929 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to honor the dead Confederate soldiers from Greene County. The monument consists of a large rectangular boulder with a plaque mounted on the North side of the stone, facing away from the Greene County courthouse.

    Images: View of Sergeant Ray E. Eubanks, Greene County Confederate and Veterans memorials

  • Inscription

    IN MEMORY / OF THE / GREENE COUNTY SOLDIERS OF / THE CONFEDERATE STATES ARMY / “AND READ THEIR HISTORY IN A NATION’S EYES” / ERECTED BY THE / GREENE COUNTY CHAPTER / UNITED DAUGHTERS OF THE CONFEDERACY / 1861-1865

  • Custodian

    Greene County

  • Dedication Date

    May 10, 1929

  • Decade

    1920s

  • Geographic Coordinates

    35.455670 , -77.670290 View in Geobrowsemap pin

  • Supporting Sources

      Butler, Douglas J. North Carolina Civil War Monuments, An Illustrated History (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2013), 203.

      Smith, Blanche Lucas. North Carolina's Confederate Monuments and Memorials, (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, 1941)

      “Greene County Courthouse,” The Living New Deal, livingnewdeal.org, (accessed September 2, 2016) Link

  • Public Site

    Yes

  • Materials & Techniques

    Granite Marker, Bronze Plaque

  • Sponsors

    Albritton-Sugg Chapter of Hookerton of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and Capt, Swift Galloway Chapter Children of the Confederacy

  • Monument Dedication and Unveiling

    The dedication was held in the school auditorium on Friday May 10, 1929. The order of events was: “Patriotic Exercises, Processional, Invocation, Song, Address of Welcome, Group of Songs, Presentation of Speaker, Address, Violin Solo, Sketch of Co. A, Presentation of Chapter Prize, Group of Negro Spirituals (sung by the Snow Hill Choral Club), Singing, Benediction”. The "honor of unveiling the memorial… was given to twenty-five Children of the Confederacy. Mrs. L. V. Morrill, historian of the chapter, presented the memorial to the town and county” (Smith, 112).

  • Subject Notes

    The line “and read their nation's history in their eyes” from the marker's incription is a quote from Thomas Gray's 1750 poem entitled Elegy Written in a Country Courtyard. This poem about death and commemoration was popular for many years. A key theme of the poem is that death will humble everyone and Gray notes that people’s sacrifices are not remembered because they rest in unmarked graves. The critique implicit in the line quoted on this monument is that the deeds of everyday men will never be adequately honored.

  • Location

    The monument faces northwest, away from the Greene County courthouse and toward the intersection of N Greene St and SE 1st St, Snow Hill, NC.
    Sergeant Ray E. Eubanks, Medal of Honor obelisk and Veterans Memorial stand right to the right of the marker. Tuscarora War/Lord Granville and a Fallen Police Officer markers stand on the right side of the front lawn, at the intersection of N Greene St and SE 2nd St.

  • Landscape

    The memorial marker stands on the right side of the courthouse lawn.

  • Post Dedication Use

    Annual Memorial Day services are held on the Greene County Courthouse lawn.

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