Marianna Confederate Monument

The reason why a Robert E. Lee monument was built in Arkansas, which is really far away from the Potomac Valley where Robert E. Lee operated from, is because the county that the monument is in, Lee County, was named after him because William Hines Furbush wanted to gain favor with the Southern Democrats (Encyclopedia of Arkansas). During 1873, The Arkansas General Assembly created Lee county, taking a part of Phillips County, where Furbush lived and was in office, as well as parts from Monroe, St. Francis, and Crittenden Counties (Encyclopedia of Arkansas). The reason why they put the monument in the town of Marianna specifically is because Marianna is the county seat of Lee county (Christ, Mark.).

In November 1910, the local newspaper opined that the project “represents a labor of love, the expression of a sentiment that is appealing to all southerners, the commemoration of heroic deeds that have made their indelible imprints upon the history of the world,” but added that “the ladies of the chapter have incurred a great indebtedness in this undertaking” and urged readers to make donations to pay for the statue” (Christ, Mark.). The construction of the statue was important to the people of the city because they wanted to honor a man who they felt represented them in the Civil War.

           Even though the statue was installed in early December, “large numbers” of people battled the cold to attend the ceremony (Christ, Mark.). Southern-born Americans and Confederate Veterans made up most of the crowd, and “The Courier reported that ‘…a shout went up from the impulsive young while the heads of the older were bowed in reverence and their bodies swept by the emotions of memory’” (Christ, Mark.). The statue was important to the people at the time because it was a statue of the hero of the Confederacy. Many of them had fought in the Civil War for the South and would have wanted their struggle to be remembered.

Nowadays, the memorial is controversial. The Marianna Confederate Monument was included in Afropunk.com’s list of Confederate statues that need to go. Its safe to say that there will probably be more calls to remove the monument in the future due to the high African American population inside of Marianna and the growing disdain for these Confederate monuments. Both the statue and its location have deep ties to the Confederacy, so the future of the statue remains unclear. Only time will tell whether current feelings about such statues will bring this one down.

Christ, Mark. “General Robert E. Lee Monument.” Encyclopedia of Arkansas Central Arkansas

Library System. Last Updated September 25, 2020. Accessed April 19, 2021.

https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/general-robert-e-lee-monument-13841/

“Marianna.” Arkansas.com Accessed April 19, 2021. https://www.arkansas.com/marianna

Race Card, The. “List of Confederate Statues That Need to Go.” Afropunk Last Updated August

15, 2017. Accessed April 20, 2021.

“Marianna (Lee County).” Encyclopedia of Arkansas Central Arkansas Library System. Last

Updated September 25, 2020. Accessed April 19, 2021.

https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/marianna-918/

Wintory, Blake. “Lee County.” Encyclopedia of Arkansas Central Arkansas Library System.

Last Updated September 25, 2020. Accessed April 19, 2021. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/lee-county-783/

Wintory, Blake. “William Hines Furbush (1839–1902).” Encyclopedia of Arkansas Central

Arkansas Library System. Last Updated January 11, 2019. Accessed April 19, 2021.

https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/william-hines-furbush-15/