Carroll County Confederate Monument

Carroll County Confederate MonumentCarroll County Confederate Monument was built as the culmination of a ten-year project to honor Confederate veterans and defend the Lost Cause of the Confederacy, an impulse that was strong throughout the South following the era of Reconstruction. Some of the financial dealings of the fundraising for the monument are difficult to identify, but based on ledgers and newspaper accounts, the Annie Weaver Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) raised $800 for the statue and the Veterans of the McDaniel Curtis Camp of United Confederate Veterans raised the $2,000 for the obelisk topped with a soldier. The UDC also raised funds by selling the Carroll County, Georgia Souvenir-Historical Edition. Newspaper editorial accounts urged those who had pledged fund to fulfill the obligations so that the fundraising could be completed and “pay for the monument in full on the day of unveiling.” The effort to raise the statue was a countywide affair. The book is still available from the Carroll County Historical Society. The base and pedestal of the monument was created by McNeil Marble Company of Marietta. It is a standard square shaft with a base where the dedication, date and other information was placed rising to the figure of a soldier is noted in sources as Georgia marble. The statue is reported to be a hand carved in Italy, possibly through Carrollton Marble Works which advertised in April 1910 to be “in direct touch with Sculpture Marble Co. of Carrara, Italy, the finest statuary people in the world.” The soldier on top of the statue lends to a local controversy which has waxed and waned over the decades. The soldier appears to be dressed more as a veteran of the Spanish-American War with button pockets and a collar rather than a Confederate soldier whose uniform had no external jacket pockets despite holding an 1860s period percussion rifle, probably an Enfield. Four cannonballs adorned the statue pedestal, and all were lost at an unknown point after a 1915 postcard shows two of the balls. The corners of the monument bore the scars where the balls were placed probably for decades before they were replaced in 2013. The monument originally rested on the site of the original county courthouse in the center of Adamson Square. Reported dates vary as to its erection from 19 January 1910 (Robert E. Lee’s Birthday) to May 1910 with the latter dates supported by better documentary evidence. It was to be dedicated on Confederate Memorial Day, 26 April 1910 and that date is etched in the stone of the base. However, because of construction delays it was unveiled on 30 April as described in a handwritten note shows in the scrapbook of the Annie Weaver Chapter under a 17 April 1910 article from the Atlanta Constitution but not dedicated for a month. The monument was officially dedicated on 28 May 1910 and nearly two thousand filled the courthouse and square including 200 Confederate veterans marching in behind the Carrollton Band. The flag of the 44th Georgia was hung over the assembly. For the 100th anniversary, a reproduction of the Confederate Battleflag used by the “Georgia Brigade” of the 40th, 41st, 42nd, 43rd and 52nd Georgia Infantry Regiments. These regiments included men of Carroll County.Miss Pauline Harris, president of the Annie Wheeler UDC delivered some crosses for veterans’ graves decorating the graves after services on Adamson Square. There was a large program including music including “The Sunny South” and a who’s who of local politicians including family names still local today such as Rev. J.M.D. Stallings, Rev. W.E. Dozier, and Rev Jessie M. Dodd who offered prayers and Col. Sid Holderness who introduced the orator Hewlette A. Hall of Newnan who spoke on behalf of the UDCs. Hall then introduced Capt. Tip Harrison of Atlanta who expressed the thanks of the Confederate Veterans to the UDCs. Carrollton Mayor H.W. Long and Ordinary W.J. Millican accepted the statue from Pauline Harris for the City and County. A line behind a band then marched toward the city Cemetery down Maple Street to decorate the graves before the benediction by Rev. A.W. Quillian. At least three dinners are noted at the county courthouse, Bradley’s Warehouse, and the UDC Chapter Room in the West Building. Over the years landscaping around the monument changed. A 1912 photograph shows the monument at street level, but later 1915 postcard and an undated photograph and a 1954 photograph show a green space square with a fence with bushes and then without a fence with trees to beautify the square.“An Era Ends”On 5 June 1958, ironically Confederate Jefferson Davis’ birthday, the Carrollton monument was dismantled with the removal of the soldier and over several days moved to the lawn of Tanner Hospital on Dixie Street. The 40-foot monument was described as coming down in “about 12 pieces” in a Carroll Georgian article. The “100-year-old trees” surrounding the square were cut down by prison labor a week later. These trees were likely half that age because they do not appear visible in the 1912 photograph and a later undated photograph shows younger than 50-year-old trees, thus probably are really about half that age. The flagpole was placed near City Hall on the triangle of land between Hall and Crawford-Jackson’s Store. The Georgia Department of Transportation at the request of the Carrollton Chamber of Commerce Highway & Streets committee channeled Adamson Square at the cost of $1,000,000 making it a regular intersection instead of the traditional drive around the town square. Parking increased from 74 cars “without double parking” to 96 cars. The route though the square served as part of the famous transcontinental Bankhead Highway (named for Good Roads Movement leader and the last living Confederate Veteran of the Senate, John Hollis Bankhead) from 1916 to about 1921. Adamson Square was rededicated on 30 July 1958.When the statue was moved to Tanner, it maintained its northward view throughout the ride with citizens maneuvering the statue as it was trucked down Newnan and Dixie Streets to the hospital. From 1958 to 1976 the statue remained vigilant to the north with Dixie Street on his right. Members of the UDC mention planning a rededication service in historical newspapers, but no record if this was carried out after the move.
“Confederate Statue to be Relocated.”The courthouse received a new modern addition in 1976. Architect Ray Roddenberry designed a mini park to accompany this expansion on the site of the old Carroll Theater. Though not entirely executed as planned the idea was floated to move the monument to the site in July 1976. Over the summer of 1976, County Commissioner Horrie Duncan proposed the statue be moved to the site of the planned mini park. In November, the Confederate Monument was moved with little newspaper fanfare to the corner of Tanner and Newnan Streets. Erected nearby was a historical marker to the industrial giants native to Carroll County including Asa Candler of Coca-Cola fame.
100th Anniversary and Restoration of the CannonballsThe monument was rededicated for the 100th Anniversary on 29 May 2010. On 15 March 2013, the four cannonballs were restored to the monument under the leadership of Bill Chapman, Commission Chair fulfilling a promise made at the rededication. It was discovered two of the four missing cannonballs. Further research found two of the missing cannon balls are located on the stone pillars that mark the Maple Street entrance to the Carrollton City Cemetery. These two original cannonballs were measured and photographed. The information was used to create new ones of the same size and look. The originals at the cemetery remain in situ.