Statue of Clio, the Muse of History (1909-1942)

A bronze monument to Clio, the Greek muse of history, was dedicated at this location on the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park grounds on July 3, 1909. University of North Carolina Professor of Literature Charles Alphonso Smith delivered a dedication speech at the statue’s unveiling, which centered on the importance of history within a democratic society. The statue was one of several landmarks that were removed from the battlefield park in 1937 as part of a decision to center the commemorative landscape on the Revolutionary War. The statue was placed in storage at that time, and in 1942, local officials decided to remove the monument from the park so that its bronze could be used as weaponry in support of the war effort.

"A democracy, fellow citizens, can not afford to be ungrateful," dedication speaker and professor of English Dr. C. Alphonso Smith explained at the monument's dedication on July 3, 1909. "Built as it is on loyal service and patriotic sacrifice, the day of its forgetting will be the day of its undermining." In the decades that followed, scholars, poets, national leaders, and civil rights veterans have echoed this sentiment, extolling the virtues of history and memory. For example, civil rights leader Julian Bond declared that "democracy demands memory," while Martin Luther King Jr. warned that "we are in danger of destroying ourselves" if we are ignorant of the past.

Alphonso Smith also spoke of the duty of the present to preserve and study the past as central to American democracy. The lead organizer of the Guilford Battle Ground Park, Joseph M. Moorehead, explained the reason for placing a monument to Clio, the Muse of History, in a memo dated June 7, 1909: "The propriety of erecting a monument to Clio on our grounds suggested itself to me from these reasons: The necessity of a knowledge of history by every truly wise man and the importance of teaching the same. The Battle Ground enterprise has proven not only a Mecca wither the patriotic assemble, but also a source whence a tremendous influence has gone forth arousing our people to study of and pride in the State’s Revolutionary history."

The monument had the following inscription: "As sinking silently to night, / Noon fades insensibly, / So truth’s fair phase assumes the haze / And hush of history. / But lesser lights relieve the dark, / Dumb dreariness of night, / And o’er the past historians cast / At least a stellar light."₂

Clio, alternate spelling kleio, was one of the nine muses of Greek mythology. Her name came from the Greek word kleô, meaning “to make famous” or “celebrate.” While this monument was removed from the battlefield in 1937 and later contributed to a scrap metal drive in World War II, there are two statues of Clio in the United States. The most famous of these two statues can be found in the nation's capitol while a second one can be found in New Orleans. Clio is often depicted in artwork, often holding an open scroll or seated by books.

"Clio, An address delivered at the unveiling of a monument to the Muse of History," by Dr Alphonso Smith. Speech published by the North Carolina Historical Commission.

Greensboro Patriot, July 5, 1909.

Clio, Clio, The Muse of History [Removed], Guilford Courthouse. Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina https://docsouth.unc.edu/commland/monument/134/ accessed 12/11/2024

A search of available Greensboro newspapers in 1942 did not result in any articles about the decision to send the statue of Clio to the War Salvage Board. Hundreds of cannon and bronze monuments were melted down, and many monuments at a variety of battlefields were slated for removal but spared by the success of scrap metal drives.