Anderson County Confederate Monument

On January 15, 1902, thousands of South Carolinians gathered in downtown Anderson to witness the dedication and unveiling of the Anderson County Confederate Monument. Among the crowd were "a large number of the brave Veterans who still survive," the local Anderson Intelligencer reported, "but who are so rapidly passing to the bivouac of the dead."[3] The first state to secede during the Civil War, South Carolina provided some 60,000 soldiers to the Confederacy, including many from Anderson County. At war's end, the town of Anderson was ransacked by Union forces. Following the war, efforts were made across the South to commemorate Confederate veterans, especially as the decades passed and the wartime generation grew old.

The monument's dedication in Anderson was the work of the local Ladies' Memorial Association (also referred to as the Confederate Memorial Association). Such associations were ubiquitous across the South, especially in the years immediately following the war. The fundraising for a local Confederate monument began in 1891, and in 1895 the Memorial Association was formed to oversee fundraising and construction efforts. Ultimately, the Association raised $2,700 for the monument, and the city provided both a plot of land and the monument's foundation. While the Memorial Association worked on a fundraising, a local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) was founded. The UDC nearly supplanted the Association, but the Memorial Association continued its work until the monument was completed. Both the Ladies Memorial Association and the United Daughters of the Confederacy participated in the dedication ceremonies.

The dedication itself proved quite the civic spectacle. It began with a parade of the United Confederate Veterans (UCV), as well as the local Anderson Rifles militia. The band of Clemson College (now Clemson University) played "Maryland, My Maryland" (a popular wartime Confederate tune), and a children's choir sang "Dixie." A bevy of speakers regaled the onlooking crowd, including local dignitaries, a reverend, Confederate veterans, and UDC leaders. The veterans then marched to the monument and formed in a circle around it. A few more addresses were given, and the monument was unveiled to "the admiring gaze of the thousands beheld the Confederate private at parade rest, which graced the to of the monument."[3] The dedication closed with a three volley salute by the Anderson Rifles, and a rendition of "Taps" by the Clemson band.

The monument stands 38 feet high and is built of Tennessee grey marble. Atop the pillar stands a Confederate soldier. Unlike many other Confederate monuments, the Anderson County monument does not depict a generic Rebel private but rather a specific Confederate: William Wirt Humphreys. A native of Anderson County, Humphreys served as the editor of the local Anderson Intelligencer at the outbreak of the Civil War. Humpreys proved a deep supporter of both the nascent Confederacy and slavery, opining in his newspaper:

"For ages to come, slavery as it now exists must be profitable and beneficial in the Cotton States. Yet, if not sooner, the remaining slave States must unit with us in a few years, and it is wise and proper to devise means whereby we can make their union perpetual and place a check upon the growth of abolition sentiment in their borders."[1]

Humphreys served as an officer in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the war. Afterwards he again edited the Intelligencer and practiced law. Humphreys died in October 1893; his friend James Hoyt gave the eulogy. A major supporter of the monument, Hoyt presumably was responsible for Humphrey's likeness being used in its creation, and he spoke at the dedication.

Aside from William W. Humphrey standing atop, the monument is also inscribed with text on all four sides, dedicated to the various branches of the Confederate military: infantry, cavalry, artillery, and navy. The inscription to the infantry reads in part: "The spirit of chivalry was not dead in 1861, when the soldiers of the Confederacy went forth to battle for the love of home and country, and the preservation of constitutional liberty."[3] The monument also includes several quotations from Father Abram Ryan's "The Conquered Banner," a popular post-war poem:

"The world shall yet decide,

In truth's clear, far-off light,

That the soldiers who wore the grey and died

With Lee, were in the right."[3]

The monument, its dedication ceremony, and coverage of the ceremony are infused with Lost Cause ideology. Arising in the wake of Confederate defeat following the Civil War, Lost Cause ideology holds that a struggle for constitutional liberties or states' rights (not slavery) was the primary cause of the war. The Lost Cause also valorizes Confederate soldiers, minimizes the nature of Confederate military defeat, and praises Southern women for their loyalty and sacrifice. These tenets are visible in the monument itself: the soldiers' fight for "constitutional liberty" and the righteousness of the Confederate cause.

In 2020, following the wake of Black man George Floyd and nationwide protests over systemic racism, many Confederate monuments came under renewed public scrutiny. In June, the Anderson County Confederate Monument stood at the center of Black Lives Matter protest. The Confederate monument was later vandalized. In August 2020, prominent Black actor Chadwick Boseman (star of the "Black Panther" movie) died. An Anderson native, several petitions quickly gathered over 18,000 signatures calling for a monument to Boseman to replace the Confederate monument.

1. Brian Scott, "William Wirt Humphreys and the Anderson County Confederate Monument-Part I," July 10, 2017, Under the Kudzu: Hidden, Forgotten, and Lost History (blog). Web. Accessed September 3, 2020. https://underthekudzublog.wordpress.com/2017/07/10/william-wirt-humphreys-and-the-anderson-county-confederate-monument-part-1/

2. Brian Scott, "William Wirt Humphreys and the Anderson County Confederate Monument-Part II," July 16, 2017, Under the Kudzu: Hidden, Forgotten, and Lost History (blog). Web. Accessed September 3, 2020. https://underthekudzublog.wordpress.com/2017/07/16/william-wirt-humphreys-and-the-anderson-county-confederate-monument-pt-2/

3. "Confederate Monument. The Unveiling Ceremonies Most Interesting and Impressive, and Witnessed by an Immense Crowd." January 22, 1902. Anderson Intelligencer. Web. Digitized via Chronicling America. Accessed September 3, 2020. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026965/1902-01-22/ed-1/seq-8/

4. J. Tracy Power. "Civil War." May 10, 2019. South Carolina Encyclopedia. Web. Accessed September 3, 2020. https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/civil-war/

5. Caroline E. Janney. "The Lost Cause." July 27, 2016. Encyclopedia Virginia. Web. Accessed September 8, 2020. https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/lost_cause_the#start_entry

6. "Confederate monument in Anderson target of conversation." June 24, 2020. Independent Mail. Web. Accessed September 8, 2020. https://www.independentmail.com/picture-gallery/news/2020/06/24/confederate-monument-anderson-target-conversation/3252485001/

7. Conor Hughes. "Thousands call for a memorial to Chadwick Boseman to replace Anderson Confederate statue." September 3, 2020. Greenville Post and Courier. Web. Accessed September 8, 2020. https://www.postandcourier.com/greenville/news/thousands-call-for-a-memorial-to-chadwick-boseman-to-replace-anderson-confederate-statue/article_39e66daa-eb9a-11ea-b29f-2f1aa8d23719.html