Courthouse and Confederate Monument
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Dedicated in 1913, this monument to Confederate soldiers stands before Warrenton's courthouse. The monument consists of a stone obelisk topped by a bearded soldier. This monument and its dedication demonstrate the efforts of the United Daughters of the Confederacy to vindicate the South and promote the myth of the "Lost Cause" of the Confederacy in the early 20th century. Dedication speeches lauded the soldiers as noble heroes for the defense of "Anglo-Saxon" civilization.
Images
"Unveiling of Confederate Monument," in the Warren Record, 24 October 1913.
Court House and Confederate monument (source: Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards, Wilson Library, UNC)
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
The United Daughters of the Confederacy and Sons of Warren sponsored the monument's construction. As the minutes of the United Daughters' convention report: "$3000 has been raised by the efforts of our Chapter for the erection of a Confederate monument on Court House Square in Warrenton...As usual, Memorial Day and President Davis' birthday were observed with appropriate exercises and a bountiful dinner served the veterans."
The Warren Record looked forward to the monument's 1913 dedication ceremony as sure to be an occasion "of great joy." The ceremony featured a parade and brought in soldiers and veterans, children and Boy Scouts, and prominent North Carolina figures like former governor Robert Glenn, who gave a speech. As Douglas Butler writes, the festivities were meant to celebrate both the Confederacy and the institutions and ideas of the antebellum South.
The monument's inscription reads:
ERECTED TO THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS OF WARREN COUNTY, 1861-1865 / NO BRAVER BLED / FOR BETTER LAND / NOR BETTER LAND / HAD CAUSE SO GRAND / LORD GOD OF HOSTS / BE WITH US YET. / LEST WE FORGET! / LEST WE FORGET! / OUR HEROES (source: Commemorative Landscapes)
The Warren Record looked forward to the monument's 1913 dedication ceremony as sure to be an occasion "of great joy." The ceremony featured a parade and brought in soldiers and veterans, children and Boy Scouts, and prominent North Carolina figures like former governor Robert Glenn, who gave a speech. As Douglas Butler writes, the festivities were meant to celebrate both the Confederacy and the institutions and ideas of the antebellum South.
The monument's inscription reads:
ERECTED TO THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS OF WARREN COUNTY, 1861-1865 / NO BRAVER BLED / FOR BETTER LAND / NOR BETTER LAND / HAD CAUSE SO GRAND / LORD GOD OF HOSTS / BE WITH US YET. / LEST WE FORGET! / LEST WE FORGET! / OUR HEROES (source: Commemorative Landscapes)
Sources
Butler, Douglas. North Carolina Civil War Monuments: An Illustrated History. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2013. p. 130-131.
"Confederate Monument, Warrenton." Commemorative Landscapes. Accessed February 17, 2017. http://docsouth.unc.edu/commland/monument/98/.
"Court House and Confederate Monument, Warrenton, North Carolina." Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards (P077). North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives. Wilson Library. UNC-Chapel Hill.
United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division. Minutes of the Eighteenth Annual Convention of the United Daughters of the Confederacy North Carolina Division, Held at Raleigh, North Carolina, October 14, 15, 16, 1914. Goldsboro, N.C.: Nash Bros. Printers and Binders, 1914. p. 100. http://archive.org/stream/minutesofannu1917unit#page/n105/mode/2up/search/monument.
Warren Record (Warrenton, NC), October 24, 1913. p. 6. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5965814/unveiling_of_Confederate_monument/
"Confederate Monument, Warrenton." Commemorative Landscapes. Accessed February 17, 2017. http://docsouth.unc.edu/commland/monument/98/.
"Court House and Confederate Monument, Warrenton, North Carolina." Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards (P077). North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives. Wilson Library. UNC-Chapel Hill.
United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Division. Minutes of the Eighteenth Annual Convention of the United Daughters of the Confederacy North Carolina Division, Held at Raleigh, North Carolina, October 14, 15, 16, 1914. Goldsboro, N.C.: Nash Bros. Printers and Binders, 1914. p. 100. http://archive.org/stream/minutesofannu1917unit#page/n105/mode/2up/search/monument.
Warren Record (Warrenton, NC), October 24, 1913. p. 6. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5965814/unveiling_of_Confederate_monument/