Source: Confederate Soldiers Monument
Chowan County Confederate Dead, Edenton
Carolina Marble and Granite Company, Statesville, NC, Builder
This monument was built to honor the Confederate dead of Chowan County. The structure consists of a tall white granite shaft with a Confederate Common Soldier standing with his rifle at his waist and pointing forward. He looks ahead with a fixed and resolute stare. There are inscriptions on both the front and the back of the monument, with the dates for the Confederacy on the front and a poem honoring the dead on the back. The granite shaft is nineteen feet tall, with a bas-relief image of the Confederate flag unfurled on its pole, and the bronze figure is seven feet high.
Contemporary photos by Kim Weaver Spurr:
Chowan County Confederate Monument |
Side view |
Front inscription
Historic postcards:
Postcard image with street view |
Postcard image with view of Edenton Bay |
Postcard image facing the historic courthouse |
Postcard image showing the base of the monument prior to installation of the statue
Front: OUR CONFEDERATE DEAD /
1861-1865
Rear: Gashed with honorable scars, /
Low in Glorys lap they lie, /
Though they fell, they fell like stars, /
Streaming splendour through the sky.
Bell Battery Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy
The cornerstone and shaft of the monument were laid on June 3, 1904. The bronze soldier was dedicated on May 10, 1909.
36.056730 , -76.609580
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"'The Green' Edenton N.C. and Edenton Bay," in Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards (P077), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, (accessed May 14, 2013) Link
"Confederate Monument [Chowan County], (sculpture)," Art Inventories Catalog, Smithsonian American Art Museum, SIRIS, sirismm.si.edu, #IASNC000344, (accessed April 4, 2013) Link
"Court House Green, Showing Confederate Monument and Edenton Bay, Edenton, N.C.," in Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards (P077), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, (accessed May 14, 2013) Link
"Edenton, N.C.," in North Carolina Postcard Collection (P052), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, (accessed April 5, 2013) Link
"Edenton, North Carolina," in Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards (P077), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, (accessed May 14, 2013) Link
"Our Confederate Dead, 1861—1865," The Historical Marker Database, HMdb.org, (accessed July 20, 2017) Link
Dillard, Richard. "The Civil War in Chowan County North Carolina" (Raleigh, 1916), (accessed April 5, 2013) Link
Hankerson, Mechelle. “Edenton, N.C. Leaders Agree to Move Town’s Confederate Monument,” WUNC, March 17, 2023, (accessed August 20, 2023) Link
Inge, Leoneda. “In Edenton, Progress of Removing Confederate Monument Has Stalled, Dividing the Town,” WUNC, February 14, 2023, (accessed August 20, 2023) Link
Kickler, Troy L. "Edenton Tea Party: An American First," North Carolina History Project, (accessed May 6, 2012) Link
N.C. Historical Commission. Third Biennial Report if the North Carolina Historical Commission December 1, 1908 to November 30, 1910 (Raleigh: Edwards & Broughton Co., 1910), 38, (accessed April 5, 2013) Link
Newman, Tyler. “Edenton Leaders Approve Relocation of Confederate Monument,” Reflector (Greenville, NC), March 16, 2023, (accessed August 18, 2023) Link
Shaffer, Ryan. “State Supreme Court Ruling Stalls Removal of Confederate Monument,” Public Radio East, April 24, 2023, (accessed August 18, 2023) Link
United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division. Minutes of the Eighth Annual Convention of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division, Held in Fayetteville, N.C., October 26, 28, 1904 (Newton, NC: Enterprise Job Print, 1905), 89, 98, (accessed April 5, 2013) Link
United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division. Minutes of the Fifth Annual Convention of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division, Held in Charlotte, N.C., October 9, 10, 11, 1901 (Raleigh, NC: Capital Printing Company, Printers and Binders, 1902), 103, 133, (accessed April 5, 2013) Link
United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division. Minutes of the Thirteenth Annual Convention of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division, Held at Wilmington, N.C., October 13th, 14th, 15th, 1909 (Newton, NC: Enterprise Print, 1910), 121, (accessed April 4, 2013) Link
United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division. Minutes of the Twentieth Annual Convention of the United Daughters of the Confederacy North Carolina Division, Held at Gastonia, North Carolina, October 11, 12, 13, 1916 (Wilmington, N.C: Wilmington Stamp and Printing Company), 109, (accessed September 7, 2012) Link
“Contract for a Monument at Edenton,” Statesville Record And Landmark (Statesville, NC), April 8, 1904
“Edenton Bell Battery,” Edenton Historical Commission, ehcnc.org, (accessed July 4, 2017) Link
“Edenton Honors the Lost Cause,” Tar Heel (Elizabeth City, NC), May 14, 1909
“Edenton Town Council Votes to Remove Confederate Monument,” Blue Ridge Public Radio, February 10, 2020, (accessed August 20, 2023) Link
Yes
White granite, bronze, reinforced concrete
Bell Battery Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The first donation was made by a nine year old, W. D. Pruden, Jr., who gave two cents to the project.
Shaft and base, 1904: $1,000. Bronze statue, 1909: $2,000
Fundraising began in 1901, and by 1904 the chapter had secured enough funds to erect the base and shaft which were dedicated on June 3, 1904. On that day, seventy-five veterans were in attendance for the services which included the conferring of twelve Crosses of Honor and the "Rebel Yell" given by their recipients.
The bronze statue was unveiled on May 10, 1909. J. Bryan Grimes was orator on a day that saw the ceremony interrupted by rain.
In the Civil War, Chowan County contributed men to the Albemarle Artillery, composed of enlisted men from North Carolina's eastern counties. Company B of Moore's 3rd Battalion North Carolina Light Artillery were so named "The Edenton Bell Battery" to reflect the bronze bells from Edenton buildings that were melted down to make guns and cannon to equip the company.
The monument was built and dedicated in two stages. By 1904, sufficient funds had been raised to purchase and install the tall granite shaft. In 1909, the bronze soldier was added.
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.
In 2020 Edenton town leaders formed a Human Relations Commission (HRC) to study options for the Confederate monument located on the town’s waterfront. In August 2021 the HRC by a narrow margin recommended that the monument be moved. In February 2022 the Edenton Town Council adopted a resolution calling for removal of the Confederate monument. It was not until February 2023, after protests and complaints that the town was moving too slowly that the Town Council unanimously voted to relocate the statue. A restraining order on removal was then issued by Chowan County Superior Court Judge Jerry Tillett because of a pending lawsuit by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and Sons of Confederate Veterans. A resolution to the suit is not expected until the N.C. The Supreme Court rules on a similar case in Asheville. That ruling is expected sometime in 2023
The monument originally stood in the lawn in front of the Old Colonial Courthouse on East King Street. Although just steps from the waterfront, the monument was placed with the soldier's back to the bay as he faced north. Today the monument sits on South Broad Street in a median between the lanes of the street, south of Water Street. The soldier still stands facing north. Edenton Bell Battery C.S.A. cannons stand about 300 feet away south from the statue. The Silent Service Memorial bench is at 503 S. Broad Street. The Edenton Tea Pot and the Joseph Hewes Memorial are close by.
The monument sits in a grassy median between the two lanes of the street. It is mounted on a red brick paved area amidst low evergreen shrubbery.
The monument originally stood in the square in front of the historic Chowan County Courthouse on King Street. It was moved to its present location on South Broad Street in June 1961.
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