Veterans Memorial, Enfield
On August 21, 2022, the memorial was demolished by a small tractor with a front end loader.
The memorial's description: the memorial stood approximately ten feet high in the center. It was originally dedicated to Confederate soldiers and veterans of World War One.
It was of Georgia marble with bronze tablets. Two small walls extended bilaterally from the center, square column, and one side supports a drinking fountain.
A Confederate flag was carved into the marble one one side of the center column. A 48-star American flag was carved into the other side, along with the symbol of the American Foreign Legion. Below each flag, a bronze plaque was affixed to the structure. The small walls to either side were carved with inscriptions.
The small columns at either side of the short walls were carved with rosettes.
Since its dedication in 1928, inscriptions have continued to be added to the monument, commemorating World War II, the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf War.
Wall to the left of the Confederate flag, carved into the marble (with drinking basin): ERECTED / BY THE / FRANK M. PARKER / CHAPTER
Center column, under the Confederate flag, inscribed upon a bronze plaque: 1861 (laurel wreath with flag and bow) 1865 / TO THE MEMORY OF THE VETERANS / OF THE WAR / BETWEEN THE STATES / "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"
Center column, under the Confederate flag and bronze plaque, carved into the marble: RELOCATED BY / CLAUDE N. KIMBALL, JR. / V. F. W. POST NO. 6813
Wall to the right of the Confederate flag, carved into the marble: UNITED DAUGHTERS / OF THE / CONFEDERACY / MAY 30 1925
Back: wall to the left of the American flag, carved into the marble (no drinking basin): KOREAN CONFLICT / 1950 - 1953 / VIETNAM WAR / 1961 - 1975
Back: center column, under the American flag, inscribed upon a bronze plaque: 1917 (star) 1918 / IN HONOR OF / OF THE WORLD WAR / "COMRADES TRUE, BORN ANEW / PEACE TO YOU / YOUR SOULS SHALL BE WHERE THE HEROES ARE AND YOUR MEMORY SHINE / LIKE THE MORNING STAR." / JOYCE KILMER
Back: wall to the right of the American flag, carved into the marble: WORLD WAR II / 1941 - 1945 / PERSIAN GULF WAR / 1990
Enfield Parks and Recreation Department
May 30, 1928. Rededication: May 30, 1954
"Honoring Our Veterans -- Veterans Memorial at Randolph Park -- Enfield, NC -- Nov. 11, 2012," YouTube video, 1:39, posted by "mountainbikekayak," Nov. 12, 2012 Link
"SBI Investigating Removal of Confederate Monument in Enfield. The State Bureau of Investigation Is Investigating the Removal of a Confederate Monument in Halifax County," WRAY.com, August 22, 2022, (accessed August 24, 2022) Link
Butler, Douglas J. North Carolina Civil War Monuments, An Illustrated History, (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2013), 195
Holliday, Robert Cortes, Joyce Kilmer, (New York: George H. Doran Company, 1918), 105-07. Link
Holm, Richard. “Enfield Approves Removal of Veteran Memorial: Reason Due to Honoring Confederate Veterans,” The Daily Herald (Halifax, NC), August 20, 2022, (accessed August 24, 2022) Link
Ritter, Moria. “Confederate Statue Bulldozed in NC Mayor’s Video,” News & Observer (Raleigh, NC), August 23, 2022, (accessed August 24, 2022) Link
Ryan, Abram J. Father Ryan's Poems. Mobile: Jno. L. Rapier & Co., Publisher, 1879 (accessed June 10, 2014) Link
“Enfield Honors Halifax Heroes,” The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), June 3, 1928
“Marker Re-Dedication Set,” The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), May 30, 1954
“SBI to Probe Enfield Monument Destruction,” RRSin.com, August 23, 2022, (accessed August 24, 2022) Link
Yes
Marble, bronze
Frank M. Parker Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy
1300
Exercises began at 4:30 pm. D. Mac Johnson presided over the community-wide Memorial Day celebration. O. P. Dickinson, a prominent Wilson attorney, delivered the address. His speech praised both the Confederate veterans and the soldiers of the World War. Billie Harrison and Mary Parker, both descendants of Confederate veterans, unveiled the fountain. Mayor A. W. Andleton accepted the memorial on behalf of Enfield.
Both Sue Curtis and the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources list the dedication date as June 3, 1928.
The Joyce Kilmer stanza is excerpted from a larger poem entitled Rouge Bouquet (1918), and it was first published two weeks after his death in 1918.
The unattributed verse under the Confederate flag is from "The March of the Deathless Dead" by Abram Joseph Ryan, a Catholic priest who served with the Confederate Army.
Francis M. Parker was a colonel of the 30th North Carolina Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. The chapter bearing his name was chartered in 1907 and is now defunct.
During segregation, the fountain provided two drinking spouts, one for whites and one for non-whites. The fountain for non-whites has been removed, but its pedestal and spigot hole remain.
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 August 15, 2022 the Enfield Town Board of Commissioners voted to have the Enfield Veterans Memorial removed as it was originally dedicated to the memory of Confederated soldiers and those who served during World War One. Citing cost and time frame required to determine the disposition of the memorial, town Mayor Mondale Robinson took matters into his own hands. He arranged for a small tractor with a front end loader to topple the memorial and broadcast the event live on Facebook. “Yes, sirs! Death to the Confederacy around here,” Robinson said in the video as a bulldozer [tractor] knocked the monument over. “Not in my town. Not on my watch.”
The event created further controversy as over the year’s commemoration of those who had served in later wars had been added to the memorial.
This action prompted Enfield police Chief James Ayers to request the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation to see whether criminal charges should be filed over the demolition action.
On August 21, 2022, the memorial has been demolished.
The fountain was originally located on a street in downtown Enfield. It may have been relocated in 1954 as a news story describes a new unveiling and then re-dedication. Before its destruction on August 21, 2022, the monument was located in Randolph Park, near a small stream in Enfield, NC. It was visible from McFarland Road and from a small access road that divides the park from Elmwood Cemetery. The memorial stood in a grassy field surrounded by mature trees. Geo coordinates of its last location: 36.186700 , -77.671910.
Until the memorial was demolished in August 2022 the Tabernacle Baptist Church each year held a Veterans Day service and placed a wreath in honor of all veterans past and present.
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