William Ruffin Cox Memorial, Oakwood Cemetery, Raleigh
The monument to William Ruffin Cox is in the form of a granite obelisk upon a single beveled base.
Inscriptions describing his military and political career and role as a Mason appear on all four
sides near the base.
Images:
Front side |
Right side |
Back side |
Left side
Front: WILLIAM / RUFFIN COX / BORN / SCOTLAND NECK / NORTH CAROLINA / MARCH 11 1832
/ DIED / RICHMOND VIRGINIA / DECEMBER 26 1919 / WARRIOR / JURIST STATESMAN
Right Side: BRIGADIER GENERAL / ARMY OF NORTHERN / VIRGINIA CONFEDERATE / STATES OF
AMERICA / GRAND MASTER / GRAND LODGE OF MASONS / OF NORTH CAROLINA / SOLICITOR /
METROPOLITAN DISTRICT / CHAIRMAN / DEMOCRATIC STATE EXECUTIVE / COMMITTEE /
JUDGE OF SUPERIOR COURT / MEMBER OF CONGRESS / SECRETARY / UNITED STATES SENATE
Rear: HE PARTICIPATED / IN THE BATTLES OF / MEADOW RIDGE / SEVEN DAYS / MALVERN HILL
/ SHARPSBURG / FREDRICKSBURG / CHANCELLORSVILLE / SPOTTSYLVANIA / THE VALLEY
CAMPAIGN / PETERSBURG – APPOMATTOX / HE BORE TO HIS DEATH / SCARS OF ELEVEN
WOUNDS / RECEIVED IN BATTLE
Left side: THE FIRST SHOT / AT FORT SUMTER / FOUND HIM READY. / HIS TROOPS / ORGANIZED
/ AND FROM THAT / HOURTO THE DAY / WHEN HIS SOLDIERS / ACTING UNDER HIS / ORDERS
FIRED THE FINAL / VOLLEY AT APPOMATTOX / HE WAS IN ACTIVE SERVICE
Oakwood Cemetery
35.786160 , -78.625300
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Historic Oakwood Cemetery, http://historicoakwoodcemetery.org (accessed May 19, 2021) Link
Williams, Max R. “Cox, William Ruffin,” NCPedia.org, (accessed November 5, 2015) Link
“William Ruffin Cox,” Find A Grave, (accessed November 5, 2015) Link
“William Ruffin Cox,” The Historical Marker Database, HMdb.org, (accessed November 5, 2015) Link
Yes
Granite
Historic Oakwood Cemetery was founded in 1869 in North Carolina's capital, Raleigh, near the North Carolina State Capitol in the city's Historic Oakwood neighborhood. Annual Confederate Memorial Day services are held at the Oakwood Cemetery each May.
[Additional information from NCpedia editors at the State Library of North Carolina: This person enslaved and owned other people. Many Black and African people, their descendants, and some others were enslaved in the United States until the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in 1865. It was common for wealthy landowners, entrepreneurs, politicians, institutions, and others to enslave people and use enslaved labor during this period. To read more about the enslavement and transportation of African people to North Carolina, visit https://aahc.nc.gov/programs/africa-carolina-0. To read more about slavery and its history in North Carolina, visit https://www.ncpedia.org/slavery. - Government and Heritage Library, 2023.]
The memorial is located in Historic Oakwood Cemetery, at 701 Oakwood Ave, Raleigh, NC 27601. The obelisk stands in the Battle Section of Oakwood Cemetery, at the intersection of Maple Avenue and Chapel Circle. Monuments in the Confederate section of the cemetery include Memorial Arch, House of Memory, Confederate Monument, Memorial Wall, Gettysburg Memorial, Colonel McLeod Turner Monument, Col. Burgwyn Monument, General George Anderson Monument, CSS H.L. Hunley Submarine Memorial, Randolph Shotwell Memorial, Arlington Dead Marker and the Civil War Sesquicentennial Marker. The memorial to Worth Bagley is also located outside the Confederate section, but in Christ Church Section, Lot 1 of the cemetery.
The memorial is surrounded by grave markers and monuments.
Yes
The Oakwood Cemetery continues to serve for Confederate Memorial Services each Memorial Day.
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