Scotland County Confederate Soldiers Monument, Laurinburg
The monument is composed of a marble statue of a Confederate Common Soldier placed atop a tall granite shaft. The soldier stands at parade rest with a steadfast and fixed gaze, holding the barrel of his rifle. The base of the shaft is inscribed on all four sides and presents bas-relief carvings of a cannon and crossed swords below the inscription on the front face. The front of the column shows a tall Confederate flag in bas-relief, unfurled and wrapped around its pole.
Images (courtesy of Rusty Long):
Three monuments in front of the Scotland County Courthouse |
Front view |
Front inscription
Front: CSA / 1861 - 1865 / TO THE / CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS / OF SCOTLAND COUNTY, / THE RECORD OF WHOSE / SUBLIME SELF-SACRIFICE / AND UNDYING DEVOTION / TO DUTY IN THE SERVICE / OF THEIR COUNTRY / IS THE FOND HERITAGE / OF A LOYAL POSTERITY / COMRADES / OUR CONFEDERATE HEROES
Right: “WE CARE NOT WHENCE THEY CAME, / DEAR, IN THEIR LIFELESS CLAY; / WHETHER UNKNOWN OR KNOWN TO FAME, / THEIR CAUSE AND COUNTRY STILL THE SAME, / THEY DIED AND WORE THE GRAY.”
Left: “LEST WE FORGET.” /
1861-1865
Rear: FIRST AT BETHEL, / FARTHEST AT GETTYSBURG, / AND CHICAMAUGA, / LAST AT APPOMATTOX
Sons of Confederate Veterans
November 15, 1912
34.775890 , -79.460500 View in Geobrowse
"Our Confederate Heroes," The Historical Marker Database, HMdb.org, (accessed August 16, 2015) Link
Butler, Douglas J. North Carolina Civil War Monuments, An Illustrated History, (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2013)
National Park Service. "The Immortal Six Hundred," Fort Pulaski, (accessed March 21, 2013) Link
United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division. Minutes of the Fifteenth Annual Convention of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Held at Winston-Salem, North Carolina, October 25-27,1911 (Newton, N.C.: Enterprise Print, [1911]), 15, (accessed March 21, 2013) Link
United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division. Minutes of the Fourteenth Annual Convention of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division, Held at Rocky Mount N.C., October 12th, 13th, 14th 1910, [Raleigh, NC: Capital Printing Co., 1910], 123, (accessed September 5, 2012) Link
United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division. Minutes of the Seventeenth Annual Convention of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Held at Tarboro, North Carolina, October 8, 9, and 10, 1913 (New Bern, N.C.: Owen G. Dunn, Printer, [1914]), 80, (accessed March 21, 2013) Link
United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division. Minutes of the Sixteenth Annual Convention of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Held at Salisbury, North Carolina, October 9, 10, and 11, 1912 (Goldsboro, N.C.: Nash Bros., Printers and Binders, 1913), 78, (accessed March 21, 2013) Link
Wood, Julia. "Immortal 600 Remembered," Laurinburg Exchange (Laurinburg, NC), May 20, 2002
[Debt on monument], The Laurinburg Exchange (Laurinburg, NC), March 21, 1912
“Cornerstone of Monument Laid,” The Evening Chronicle (Charlotte, NC), October 28, 1910
“Monument to Veterans,” The Gastonia Gazette (Gastonia, NC), September 12, 1911
“Mrs. Bennett Writes About Laurinburg Unveiling,” The Farmer And Mechanic (Raleigh, NC), December 3, 1912
“Scotland Honors Confederate Dead,” The Evening Chronicle (Charlotte, NC), November 16, 1912
Yes
Base and shaft: Granite. Statue: Marble
United Daughters of the Confederacy, Scotland Chapter
$3,128
General William R. Cox of Richmond, Virginia was speaker of the day, and a banquet was served to the veterans, the Sons of Veterans, and the Children of the Confederacy.
The cornerstone had been laid in October 1910. It appears the monument was erected shortly thereafter as a news article from March 1912 called for funds to pay off debt for the monument that “has been erected more than a year.” It was not uncommon that sponsoring organizations would not unveil a monument that was not paid for. In this case the dedication took place almost two years after the memorial had been erected.
The monument is now used as a meeting place during Confederate Memorial Day to honor the “Immortal 600”, a group of 600 Confederate soldiers who were used as human shields to protect Union positions at Morris Island, S.C. Three members of the Immortal 600 were from Laurinburg.
The monument stands at the corner of Roper and Biggs Streets, to the left of the Scotland County Courthouse that is located at 212 Biggs Street, Laurinburg, NC. When facing the courthouse the the Veterans Memorial is to the right of the Confederate Soldiers Monument with the Quakenbush Monument to the left of the Confederate Monument.
The monument sits in a grassy triangular median between the street and the courthouse parking lot.
The monument originally stood in front of the 1901 Courthouse in the center of the street at the corner of Main and Church Streets (see archival photograph). It apparently became a traffic hazard and was moved onto the courthouse grounds. It was relocated to the contemporary county courthouse sometime following its construction in 1964.
The following image shows part of the monument just barely visible on the right side, in its location on the grounds of the 1901 courthouse and to the right of the Quakenbush Monument.
In 2002, people gathered at the Confederate Monument to honor Confederate Memorial Day and the Immortal 600. A gun salute was performed by reenactors, and "Dixie" was sung prior to the laying of flowers on the steps of the monument.