Macon County Confederate Monument, Franklin
Three wide tiered slabs form the base of a twenty-five foot high three-tiered square plinth. The four corners of the lower plinth section are accented with small spheres, representative of cannon balls. The plinth is topped with a six-foot tall Confederate soldier who stands, holding the barrel of his musket with two hands.
Seven companies of Confederate soldiers formed in Macon County are memorialized on the monument. Company H, Sixteenth North Carolina Regiment, the first company formed, was honored with their inscription placed directly above the primary inscription. The three remaining sides of the monument display inscriptions to three cavalry and three infantry companies. Attached to an iron fence surrounding Rankin Square where the memorial is location is a plaque to the memory of Confederate officer Capt. Marcus Lafayette Kelly.
Images (by Natasha Smith):
View from the Macon County Courthouse |
Rear view of the statue |
Side view of the statue |
North, front of base inscription |
East, right side of column and base inscription |
The statue faces the Macon County Courthouse (red brick) building |
Memorial wall commemorating the Battle of Echoe |
View from Phillips Street |
View of the intersection of West Main Street (Business U.S. 441) and Phillips Street
North, front of base: IN MEMORY OF / THE SONS OF MACON COUNTY / WHO SERVED IN THE / CONFEDERATE ARMY / DURING THE / WAR PERIOD / 1861-1865
Front of column: ERECTED 1909 / CO. H, / 16TH REGIMENT, N.C.T. / INFANTRY
West, left side of column: CO. B. / 39TH REGIMENT, N.C.T. / INFANTRY
Left side of base: CO. C. / 65TH REGIMENT N.C.T. / 6TH CAVALRY
East, right side of column: CO. I. / 39TH REGIMENT N.C.T. / INFANTRY
Right side of base: CO. E. / 65TH REGIMENT N.C.T. / 6TH CAVALRY
South, rear of base: CO. K. / 9TH REGIMENT, N.C.T. / 1ST CAVALRY
Rear of column: CO. D. /62ND REGIMENT, N.C.T / INFANTRY
Plaque along fence: IN MEMORY / OF / MARCUS LAFAYETTE KELLY / CAPTAIN, C.S.A.
September 30, 1909
35.181630 , -83.381310
View in Geobrowse
"Macon County Confederate Memorial," The Historical Marker Database, HMdb.org, (accessed March 26, 2022) Link
"Macon County Historical Museum," Cultural Heritage Institutions of North Carolina, NC ECHO Project, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources (accessed May 5, 2015) Link
"Sons of Macon County Confederate Army Memorial, (sculpture)." Art Inventories Catalog, Smithsonian American Art Museum, SIRIS, sirismm.si.edu, (accessed June 5, 2023) Link
Confederate Veteran, 17 (1909), p. 540 Link
Butler, Douglas J. North Carolina Civil War Monuments, An Illustrated History, (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2013), 142.
“Joins & Cunningham Building, Franklin, N.C.” in Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards (P077), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, Wilson Library, UNC-Chapel Hill Link
“Macon County Coury [sic] House and Confederate Monument,” in Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards (P077), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, Wilson Library, UNC-Chapel Hill Link
“Sons of Macon County Confederate Army Memorial,” Waymarking.com, (accessed April 29, 2015) Link
Yes
Marble
Charles L. Robinson Camp, United Confederate Veterans
$1,650
Roughly fifteen hundred people were present for the unveiling of the monument, including sixty veterans and the governors of North and South Carolina. The two-part ceremony was conducted by W. A. Curtis. The monument was unveiled by a cord pulled by seven women who were descendents of the commanding officers of the seven companies from Macon County who served in the Civil War.
The first part of the ceremony included a speech by North Carolina governor W. W. Kitchin and songs sung by the Franklin Choir. The party broke for a meal in which the veterans and governors dined at the Junaluskee Inn, returning later in the afternoon. Then, Miss Clyde McGuire recited a poem called “The Conquered Banner,” which was the same poem her mother orated twenty years prior at the first reunion of Macon County Veterans. The poems were both recited under a torn flag of the 39th N.C. Regiment. The flag was held by J. W. Shelton, the last remaining color bearer of the regiment. The recitation was followed by a speech given by Governor M. F. Ansel of South Carolina, and sketches of each of the seven companies, written by Major N. P. Rankin.
The statue was sold by the McNeel Marble Company from Marietta, Georgia, which produced many other Confederate statues and sold them all over the South, including Pasquotank County Confederate Monument in Elizabeth City, Confederate Soldiers Monument in Hertford, Perquimans county, Alamance County Confederate Monument in Graham, and Confederate Monument in Durham.
The monument is located in Rankin Square at the intersection of West Main Street (Business U.S. 441) and Phillips Street, on the left when traveling west on West Main Street in Franklin, NC. A marker to Cherokee clay used in Wedgewood Pottery can also be found in Rankin Square. The William Bartram Marker is across the intersection on the opposite corner at the Franklin Town Square.
At the sidewalk facing Phillips Street is a state highway historical marker for the Battle of Echo, Marker: QQ-1.
At the Macon County Courthouse across the street is a Charters of Freedom memorial similar to those at many courthouses across the state. Examples of Charters of Freedom can be found in Buncombe and Burke counties.
The monument is surrounded by a brick paver walkway lined with landscaped plants. A low wrought iron fence runs around the Rankin Square.
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