Documenting the American South

Monument Name

Confederate Monument, Wilson

Type

Common Soldier Statue

Subjects

Civil War, 1861-1865

Creator

Yves St. Laurent, Sculptor

City

Wilson

County

Wilson

Description

This monument displays a confederate soldier standing at rest atop a narrow, square column mounted on a three-layered pedestal. It honors the 101 Confederates who died in Wilson General Hospital #2 and sits atop a mound covering the mass grave containing the remains of these soldiers. A cannon lies to the left side of the monument, located in Maplewood Cemetery.

In 2003 two Sons of Confederate Veterans Camps erected a tablet at the base of the burial mound listing the names of men, mostly from North Carolina, who were interred there.

Inscription

C.S.A. / 1861-1865 / OUR CONFEDERATE DEAD

Dedication Date

May 10, 1902

Decade

1900s

Geographic Coordinates

35.733770 , -77.905750

Supporting Sources

"Confederate Memorial Day, circa 1890," Wilson County Public Library, (accessed January 21, 2024)

"Confederate Memorial Day, circa 1950s," Wilson County Public Library, (accessed January 21, 2014)

"Confederate Monument, Maplewood Cemetery," Wilson County Public Library (Wilson, NC), (accessed January 21, 2024)

"Confederate Monument, Wilson, N.C.," in Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards (P077), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, Wilson Library, UNC-Chapel Hill, (accessed December 6, 2011)

Butler, Douglas J. North Carolina Civil War Monuments, An Illustrated History, (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2013), 120, 194

Connor, R. D. W. "Memorial Day, An Interpretation: An Address by R. D. W. Connor before the John W. Dunham Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, " (Raleigh, NC: Edwards & Broughton Printing Co., 1909), (accessed May 22, 2012)

Handgraaf, Brie. "Confederate Markers Spur Citizen Outcry to Wilson City Council," The Wilson Times (Wilson, NC), August 17, 2017

Hardy, Michael C. Remembering North Carolina’s Confederates, (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2006)

Rogers, Dennis. “Confederate Memorial Day in N.C.," Free Republic, (accessed January 22, 2012)

Smith, Blanche Lucas. North Carolina's Confederate Monuments and Memorials, (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, 1941)

United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division. Minutes of the Fourteenth Annual Convention of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division, Held at Rocky Mount N.C., October 12th, 13th, 14th 1910, [Raleigh, NC: Capital Printing Co., 1910], 100, (accessed September 3, 2012)

“The Confederate Monument Unveiled,” News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), May 13, 1902

Public Site

Yes

Materials & Techniques

Granite

Sponsors

The Wilson County Confederate Veterans and the John W. Durham Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy

Monument Cost

$1,000

Monument Dedication and Unveiling

Featured speaker, Henry Blount, gave praise to women of the United Daughters of the Confederacy whose “devotion and love have kept alive the deathless deeds of the Confederacy.” C.M. Cooke of Louisburg also spoke. The monument was unveiled by a young girl, Virginia Davis, and young boy, Groves Connor. The ceremony also featured 500 school age children marching around the mass burial mound which held the monument strewing flowers as the marched. The Wilson Light Infantry fired three volleys as the ceremony closed. Music was provided by the Greenville and Dunn brass bands. 5000 attended.

Location

The monument is located in Maplewood Cemetery, at 400 College Street, Wilson, NC.

Landscape

The monument stands atop a mass grave of Confederate soldiers at Maplewood Cemetery, surrounded by trees and graveyards.

Death Space

Yes

Post Dedication Use

Memorial services are still occasionally held here on Confederate Memorial day, including in 2003.