Monument to North Carolina Women of the Confederacy, Raleigh
Johnpaul Harris, Sculptor
Henry Bacon, Architect
Augustus Lukeman, Sculptor
Jno. Williams, Inc., Foundry
The seven foot tall monument, made possible through a private donation, honors the hardships and sacrifices of North Carolina women during the Civil War. A bronze sculpture depicts an older woman, holding a book, next to a young boy holding a sword. It sits on top of a granite base with bronze relief plaques. The woman, representing the women in the South as the custodians of history, imparts the history of the Civil War to the boy. The two relief plaques portray the Civil War; the eastern side shows soldiers departing for war and leaving their loved ones behind, while the western side depicts a weary or injured Confederate soldier returning home.
Vintage postcard image of the monument
North face: PRESENTED TO THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA BY ASHLEY HORNE / ERECTED 1914.
South face: TO THE NORTH CAROLINA WOMEN OF THE CONFEDERACY.
The State of North Carolina
June 10, 1914
35.779720 , -78.639650
"Ashley Horne's Gift From Heart," The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), December 14, 1911
"Lincoln Memorial," National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior, (accessed March 19, 2013) Link
"Monument to North Carolina Women," Confederate Veteran 22.8 (1914), (accessed December 29. 2011) Link
"The Monument to the Women," The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), June 12, 1912 Link
"Women of the Confederacy, (sculpture)," Smithsonian Art Inventories Catalog, #IAS 75006512, (accessed March 19, 2013) Link
Berent, Irwin M. The Monuments and Statues on the Capitol Square of North Carolina, (Greenville, NC: East Carolina University Press, 1985)
Cunningham, S.A. "Southern Woman's Monument," Confederate Veteran 17.7 (1909), (accessed December 29, 2011) Link
Fischer, William, Jr. “Cumberland County Confederate Memorial,” The Historical Marker Database, May 25, 2010, (accessed January 22, 2011) Link
Folder 83a in Joseph M. Morehead Papers, #523, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, see scan 110 Link
Hamill, H. M. "Confederate Women's Monument," Confederate Veteran 20.1 (1909), (accessed December 29, 2011) Link
Hathaway, Michael J. “Battle of Monroe’s Crossroads,” Civilwaralbum.com (accessed February 3, 2011) Link
Heath, Charles L. E-mail to Molly Patterson, February 9, 2011
Hickman, J.P. "Women of the South to be Honored," Confederate Veteran 19.4 (1911), (accessed December 29, 2011) Link
Horne, Ashley. "North Carolina Woman's Monument," Confederate Veteran 20.9 (1912), (accessed December 29, 2011) Link
Kern, William H. Phone conversation with Molly Patterson, February 9, 2011
Kern, William H. “A Description of the Monument at the Site of the Civil War Battle of Monroe’s Crossroads, Fort Bragg, North Carolina,” (Fort Bragg, NC: Environmental Management Office, 1996)
North Carolina Historical Commission. Addresses at the Unveiling of the Memorial to the North Carolina Women of the Confederacy Presented to the State by the Late Ashley Horne, (Raleigh, NC: Edwards & Broughton Printing Co., 1914), (accessed May 15, 2012) Link
Parker, Roy. “Bragg Graves Recall Heritage,” The Observer-Times (Fayetteville, NC), December 19, 1996
Smith, Walt. Personal Email to Molly Patterson, February 12, 2011
United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division. Minutes of the Eighteenth Annual Convention of the United Daughters of the Confederacy North Carolina Division, Held at Raleigh, North Carolina, October 14, 15, 16, 1914 (Goldsboro, N.C.: Nash Bros. Printers and Binders, 1914), 116, (accessed September 7, 2012) 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], 58, (accessed September 3, 2012) Link
Williams, Charlotte Bryan Grimes. History of the Wake County Ladies Memorial Association: Confederate Memorials in Capitol Square, Memorial Pavilion, the House of Memory and Confederate Cemetery, (Raleigh, NC: United Daughters of the Confederacy, Johnston Pettigrew Chapter No. 95, 1938), (accessed May 16, 2012) Link
“Erected to the North Carolina Women of the Confederacy by Ashley Horne Capitol Square, Raleigh, N.C." in Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards (P077), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, Wilson Library, UNC-Chapel Hill Link
“Monument to the North Carolina Women of the Confederacy, Presented to the State by Hon. Ashley Horne, Raleigh, N.C." in Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards (P077), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, Wilson Library, UNC-Chapel Hill Link
“North Carolina Enriched by Additions of Artists,” The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), June 11, 1914
“Women of the Confederacy,” Art Inventories Catalog, Smithsonian American Art Museum, (accessed February 7, 2011) Link
Yes
Bronze sculpture and bas-reliefs, Mt. Airy granite base.
Colonel Ashley Horne
$10,000.00
June 10, 1914
This monument was the first in North Carolina to honor the women of the Civil War era. After several failed attempts to erect a monument to Confederate women, due to insufficient fundraising and state appropriation, the monument was made possible by a donation from Colonel Ashley Horne, who died before it was unveiled. Horne paid for the monument after a series of legislative attempts failed to appropriate money for the construction of the monument.
An article in the June 12, 1912 issue of The News and Observer reported on details and progress of the monument. It reported on a recent article in the New York Herald indicating that the architectural component of the monument, to be created in the form of an exedra, was in the charge of Henry Bacon, the designer of the Lincoln Monument in the Nation's capital. The Lincoln monument construction was in progress from 1914 to 1922.
Public outcry arose when a walkway was proposed near the Women of the Confederacy monument in August of 1913 by North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Walter Clark in front of the newly erected Supreme Court building. The proposal was eventually nixed by the Board of Public Buildings and Grounds on account of the protests.
Faces south.
An alternate form of the monument was proposed in which the older woman told the story of the Civil War to a young girl instead of boy, thus representing the role of women in perpetuating the history of the South. However, the monument committee voted to use a young boy in the grouping instead. North Carolina legislators proposed a bill to allot $10,000 to build a memorial to women of the confederacy in 1909. The bill failed. After failing again to pass an appropriation for the monument in 1911, Ashley Horne donated $10,000 to build the monument.
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