Macon County Confederate Monument, Franklin
Three wide tiered slabs form the base of a twenty-five foot high square pillar. The bottom four corners of the pillar are accented with small spheres. The pillar is topped with a six-foot tall Confederate soldier who stands, holding the barrel of his rifle with two hands.
Seven units were memorialized on the monument. The county’s first Confederate military force was Company H, Sixteenth North Carolina Regiment; they were honored with their inscription placed directly above the primary inscription. The three remaining sides of the monuments each display an inscription to an infantry unit and below, a cavalry company.
IN MEMORY OF / THE SONS OF MACON COUNTY / WHO SERVED IN THE / CONFEDERATE ARMY / DURING THE / WAR PERIOD / 1861-1865 / CO. H, / 16TH REGIMENT, N.C.T. / INFANTRY
West: CO. B. / 39TH REGIMENT N.C.T. / INFANTRY / CO. C. / 65TH REGIMENT N.C.T. / 6TH CAVALRY
South: CO. D. / 62ND REGIMENT N.C.T. / INFANTRY / CO. K. / 9TH REGIMENT N.C.T. / 1ST CAVALRY
East: CO. I. / 39TH REGIMENT N.C.T. / INFANTRY / CO. E. / 65TH REGIMENT N.C.T. / 6TH CAVALRY
September 30, 1909
35.181570 , -83.381340
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"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
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 next to the old courthouse, which is currently the Macon County Historical Museum. It stands 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. The William Bartram Marker is a few feet away.
The monument is surrounded by a brick walkway lined with landscaped plants.
Yes
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