Documenting the American South

Monument Name

Elizabeth Maxwell Steel, Salisbury

Type

Plaque

Subjects

Historic Women Figures

Women Monuments

Revolutionary War, 1775-1783

City

Salisbury

County

Rowan

Description

The Elizabeth Maxwell Steele memorial is a bronze tablet with an arched top attached to the old Rowan County Courthouse. In relief above the inscription is the Spinning Wheel symbol of the Daughters of the American Revolution and 13 stars.

Inscription

THIS TABLET IS ERECTED / TO THE MEMORY OF / ELIZABETH / MAXWELL STEELE / PATRIOT / BY THE / ELIZABETH MAXWELL STEELE / CHAPTER / DAUGHTERS OF THE / AMERICAN REVOLUTION / 1781-1911

Custodian

Rowan County

Dedication Date

October 11, 1911

Decade

1910s

Geographic Coordinates

35.668530 , -80.468800 View in Geobrowse

Supporting Sources

"Female patriotism--Mrs. Steele & Genl. Green [i.e. Greene]." New York Public Library Digital Collections, Art and Picture Collection, The New York Public Library Link

"Main St., from Council to Inniss [Innes] St., Salisbury, N.C." in Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards (P077), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, Wilson Library, UNC-Chapel Hill Link

Rumple, Jethro. A History of Rowan County, North Carolina 1891 (Charlotte, NC: Observer Printing House, 1916), 206-209, photo on 209, (accessed June 21, 2017) Link

UNTITLED, The Charlotte News (Charlotte, NC), October 9, 1911, 5

West, William S. 1994. “Steel, Elizabeth Maxwell,” NCPedia.org, (accessed June 15, 2017) Link

“Bronze Tablet Unveiled This Evening,” Carolina Watchman (Salisbury, NC), October 11, 1911

“Elizabeth Maxwell Steele,” The Historical Marker Database, HMdb.org, (accessed June 15, 2017) Link

“Nathanael Greene Finds Fortification at Steel’s Tavern,” History.com, (accessed June 15, 2017) Link

Public Site

Yes

Materials & Techniques

Bronze

Sponsors

Elizabeth Maxwell Steele Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution

Monument Dedication and Unveiling

The dedication service began with a prayer prior to two children, Mary Henderson and Janet Quinn, unveiling the tablet. After remarks by D.A.R. State Regent, Mrs. William Reynolds Winston, an address was given by Theodore F. Kluttz.

Subject Notes

Elizabeth Maxwell Steel was a Salisbury innkeeper and Revolutionary War heroine. As reflected by surviving letters she was an ardent Patriot and a strong-willed, self-sufficient woman. According to legend and unverified secondary sources, Steele provided lodging and a gift of three bags of coin to a despondent General Nathanael Greene during the 1780–81 Cornwallis campaign in western North Carolina. Her son is the Federalist statesman John Steele.

The story of Steel and General Greene was commemorated in a painting by Alonzo Chappel and an engraving, Female Patriotism, based on the painting by J.B. Hall.

Location

The tablet is attached to the outside wall of the Old (1801) Rowan County Courthouse to the right of the entrance. The courthouse building now houses Rowan Museum, located on the 200 block of North Main Street (U.S. 29) at the intersection with West Council Street. The Rowan County World War I Memorial stands nearby in front of the modern Rowan County Courthouse (to the right of the historic courthouse if facing the building.) The Rowan County Committee of Safety memorial plaque is attached to the exterior wall, left corner, of the modern Rowan County Courthouse.

Landscape

The Rowan Museum (historic courthouse building) is surrounded by lawn, with a few trees planted along the North Main Street.

Relocated

Yes

Former Locations

When dedicated the tablet was located on the “left granite abutment at the entrance to Smith’s Drugstore” which stood near the site of Steele’s Tavern.