Confederate Dead Monument, Washington
Charles M. Walsh, Marble and Granite Works, Petersburg, VA, Builder
The monument depicts a Confederate soldier at parade rest. The statue rests atop a tall, tapered column of smooth granite. The column is mounted on a two-tier base of smooth granite resting on a brick platform. The base of the column bears the inscription which is offset by a darker stone border. A single cannon sits to the left of the front, its barrel facing away from the monument. Two cannon barrels are mounted on the mound in front of the statue facing upward and away from the monument.
The granite statue was not present when the monument was dedicated in a different location in 1888. Although planned, it was delayed by lack of funding and the monument was instead topped with an urn. The monument was moved to Oakdale Cemetery in 1893 and placed over a mass grave of Confederate Dead. Funding eventually allowed for the statue to be added and the completed memorial was rededicated in 1898. It is thought that Confederate Captain Thomas M. Allen, a Beaufort County resident, was the model for the statue. At its original location on the Pamlico River, this monument was the first public space Confederate memorial placed in North Carolina and one of four placed prior to 1904.
TO OUR / CONFEDERATE / DEAD. / 1861-1865.
May 10, 1888. Statue dedication and monument rededication: May 10, 1898
35.556480 , -77.044040
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"Meeting of Ex-Confederate Veterans,” Washington Progress (Washington, NC), April 1, 1890
Butler, Douglas J. North Carolina Civil War Monuments, An Illustrated History, (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2013), 33-40
United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division. Minutes of Organization and of 1st and 2nd Annual Conventions : United Daughters of the Confederacy [1897, 1898] ([United Daughters of the Confederacy, 1898]), 29, 32, 49, (accessed September 12, 2012) Link
United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division. Minutes of the Nineteenth Annual Convention of the United Daughters of the Confederacy North Carolina Division, Held at Charlotte, North Carolina, October 6, 7, 8, 1915 (Wilmington, N.C: Wilmington Stamp and Printing Company), 120, (accessed September 7, 2012) Link
[Carr speech,] Washington Progress (Washington, NC), May 11, 1898
[Debt to attorney,] Washington Gazette (Washington, NC), May 14, 1891
[Monument moved,] Washington Gazette (Washington, NC), April 2, 1893
[Sale of land], Washington Gazette (Washington, NC), April 7, 1892
“Beaufort Co., NC Cemeteries. Oakdale Cemetery,” Ncgenweb.us, (assessed July 30, 2015) Link
“Confederate Monument,” Washington Gazette (Washington, NC), May 15, 1890
“Ex-Confederate Association,” Washington Progress (Washington, NC), September 13, 1887
“Memorial Day,” Washington Progress (Washington, NC), May 15, 1888
“Memorial Day,” Washington Progress (Washington, NC), May 17, 1887
“Memorial Day,” Washington Progress (Washington, NC), May 18, 1898
“Monumental Headstones,” Washington Gazette (Washington, NC), January 2, 1890
“Oakdale Cemetery. To Our Confederate Dead,” HMdb.org, (accessed August 14, 2015) Link
“Removing the Monument,” Washington Gazette (Washington, NC), January 2, 1890
“Washington Today,” “Memorial Day,” Washington Gazette (Washington, NC), October 31, 1889
Yes
Granite base, shaft and statue
The Association of Ex-Confederate Soldiers of Beaufort County and Ladies Memorial Association. W.J. Crumpler, a prominent local businessman, ordered the monument and arranged for its erection.
$2,250
1888 Dedication: Judge and future Governor Daniel G. Fowle was the featured speaker for an event that saw steam ships bring viewers from both directions on the Pamlico River. The monument was veiled in national colors and a shaft flew the U.S. flag as "an everlasting reminder that we are a united people with one common country and one flag." Due to rain the monument was quickly unveiled and the rest of the ceremony moved to the Opera House. H.F. Busbee, Grandmaster of Masons, officiated the ceremony.
1898 Rededication: The day began with decoration of the graves, followed by a procession from the Town Hall to the monument. The Chief Marshal was Colonel Frank M. Parker of Enfield, and the march included the Washington Coronet Band, former soldiers marching with their units, the Ladies Memorial Association and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Children of the Confederacy, public school children, and citizens. The statue was unveiled by Mary Kathleen Bogart, the youngest daughter of the late Colonel D.N. Bogart. " Annie T. Bragaw gave the presentation speech and Colonel Julian Shakespeare Carr of Durham delivered the address "To the Private Soldier." The band played, and the ground around the monument was decorated by the Children of the Confederacy. The ceremony ended with a return march to the Town Hall and was followed by a banquet for the veterans.
According to the Washington Grays Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Beaufort County sent ten companies to the Confederate Army, and seventeen soldiers were killed in the defense of Washington.
The cemetery entrance is off of N. Bonner St. The cemetery office and listed address is 180 E. 15th Street in Washington, NC. Oakdale Cemetery is also the site of the Beaufort County Defenders Monument.
The monument sits atop a grassy mound, surrounded by grave markers. Cannons are mounted in the earth in front of the monument, with their barrels facing away from the soldier. This section of the cemetery is bordered by mature trees.
Yes
The foundation was placed and dedicated in May, 1887 on the banks of the Pamlico River. It was located at a site that had been used by both Confederate and Union forces as a fort and chosen for that reason. This land had been purchased by the Ex-Confederate Association and Ladies Memorial Association and named Monument Park. From the time the monument was completed and dedicated in 1888 there was dissatisfaction with its location and calls for it to be relocated to Oakdale Cemetery. The calls to move the memorial seem to have come from the Ladies Memorial Association that had led the fundraising efforts and was opposed by the Ex-Confederate Veterans. What is known from news articles is that money was still owed on the monument when it was erected and collection of the debt was turned over to an attorney in 1891. Plans were made to move the monument that year but the Ex-Confederate Veterans retired the debt and backed out on plans to allow its removal. Then a year later in April the veterans finally agreed to sell the land of Monument Park and allow for the monument's removal. In May 1893, the monument was relocated to Oakdale Cemetery. A reason for finally allowing removal was that construction along the busy Pamlico waterfront had begun to make the memorial less visible.
The monument has been the site of annual commemoration services.
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