List of Confederate monuments and memorials in Alabama
Confederate monuments and memorials in Alabama
This is a list of Confederate monuments and memorials in Alabama that were established as public displays and symbols of the Confederate States of America (CSA), Confederate leaders, or Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War. Part of the commemoration of the American Civil War, these symbols include monuments and statues, flags, holidays and other observances, and the names of schools, roads, parks, bridges, counties, cities, lakes, dams, military bases, and other public works.[note 1]
This list does not include items which are largely historic in nature such as historic markers or battlefield parks if they were not established to honor the Confederacy. Nor does it include figures connected with the origins of the Civil War or white supremacy, but not with the Confederacy.
As of 24 June 2020[update], there are at least 122 public spaces with Confederate monuments in Alabama.[2]
The 2017 Alabama Memorial Preservation Act was passed to require local governments to obtain state permission before removing Confederate monuments and memorials.[3][4][5]
Jefferson Davis Presidential Star, marble portico (1897).[8] "Placed by the Sophie Bibb Chapter Daughters of the Confederacy on the Spot where Jefferson Davis Stood when Inaugurated President of the C.S.A. Feb. 18, 1861"[9]
Alabama Coat of Arms (1923) and the State Seal include the Confederate Battle Flag.
Alabama State Flag (1895) The Alabama Department of Archives and History found in 1915 that the flag was meant to "preserve in permanent form some of the more distinctive features of the Confederate battle flag, particularly the St. Andrew's cross."[11] According to historian John M. Coski, the adoption of Alabama's flag coincided with the rise of Jim Crow laws and segregation,[12] as other former Confederate slave states, such as Mississippi and Florida, also adopted new state flags based on Confederate designs around the same time when those states instituted Jim Crow segregation laws themselves:[12]
The Governor's version of the State Flag includes St Andrew's Cross plus the State Coat of Arms with the Confederate Battle Flag inclusion and the military crest on the bottom.
Panel on Jefferson County Court House, Birmingham, 1932[14]Pickens County War Memorial in CarrolltonConfederate Monument, Clayton (circa 1910)Confederate Monument in Jasper, Alabama, showing cavalryman and infantryman
Confederate monument at Blakeley, AlabamaRaphael Semmes monument in Mobile, Alabama by sculptor Caspar BuberlMonument to the Confederate victory in the Battle of Newton, Newton, AlabamaCalhoun County Confederate Memorial in Ohatchee, Alabama
Confederate Monument (1910). The statue was toppled on July 16, 2016 when a policeman accidentally crashed his patrol car into the monument; the statue fell from its pedestal and was heavily damaged. In 2017, the Demopolis city council voted 3–2 to move the damaged Confederate statue to a local museum and to install a new obelisk memorial that honors both the Union and the Confederate soldiers.[34][35]
Breastworks Confederate Memorial (1941)
Confederate Square, as it was named in 1923 at the request of the UDC, remains the official name of the Demopolis Town Square.[36]
Eufaula: Confederate Monument (1905) by UDC, Barbour County Chapter[37]
Jacksonville: Confederate Monument, Jacksonville Town Square (1909). Bears a quote from Jefferson Davis: "Let none of the survivors of these men offer in their behalf the penitential plea, 'They believed they were right.' Be it ours to transmit to posterity our unequivocal confidence in the righteousness of the cause for which these men died."[47]
UDC monument (1942) on Dexter Avenue: "Along this street moved the inaugural parade of Jefferson Davis when he took the oath of office as President of the Confederate States of America February 18, 1861. Dixie was played as a band arrangement for the first time on this occasion."[52]
Memorial boulder marking The Selma Ordnance and Naval Foundry "destroyed by the Federals 1865," placed "in honor of the memory of hundreds of faithful men who made these great works a base for war material for the entire Confederate Army and Navy." (1917) Alabama Division United Daughters of Confederacy.[64]
"Arsenal Place" memorial (1931), marking the site of the Confederate ordnance works "destroyed by the Union Army April 6, 1865"
Old Live Oak Cemetery, a Selma city-owned property, incorporates various features including:
Jefferson Davis Memorial Chair – an inscribed stone chair
Confederate Memorial Circle (1878) Confederate Memorial Association[59]
The Nathan Bedford Forrest Bust Monument (2000). Built partly with city funds, sponsored by Friends of Forrest and UDC. It was first located at the Vaughan-Smitherman Museum, but during protest over Forrest's KKK links trash was dumped on it[65] and it was damaged during an apparent attempt to remove the bust from its foundation. It was then moved to the Cemetery's Confederate Circle. The bust was then stolen in 2012[66] and has not been recovered, despite a $20,000 reward; the present bust is a replacement.[67] The base is inscribed, under a Confederate flag: "Defender of Selma, Wizard of the Saddle, untutored genius, the first with the most. This monument stands as testament of our perpetual devotion and respect to Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, C.S.A., 1821-1877, one of the South's finest heroes. In honor of Gen. Forrest's unwavering defense of Selma, the great state of Alabama, and the Confederacy, this memorial is dedicated. Deo vindice."[68][69]
A Confederate Soldier Monument (pre-1881) with cannons protecting it
Confederate Armory. When Richmond was threatened by Union troops, the Confederacy moved its armory to Tallassee. It is the only Confederate armory to survive the war. Only the brick shell of the large building survives. There is a historical marker.[71]
Confederate Officers' Quarters, 301, 303 (demolished), 305, and 307 King Street. Made necessary by the relocation of the armory. After the Civil War, Confederate Brigadier-General Birkett Davenport Fry lived at 301 King Street until 1880. The building is currently used as a law firm office, but there is a historical marker.[72]
Tuscaloosa: Confederate Monument, Greenwood Cemetery (1880) by the Ladies Memorial Association[83]
Tuskegee: Tuskegee Confederate Monument, erected October 6, 1906 by UDC of Macon County, Alabama.[84] The UDC owns both the monument and the town park it is located in. There have been several unsuccessful attempts to tear it down or have it removed legally. As of 2018, the UDC has stopped removing spray-painted defacement, "because it would only be repeated".[85]
Union Springs: Confederate Monument, Old City Cemetery (The Confederate Cemetery) (1893) Ladies Memorial Association[86]
Marbury: Confederate Memorial Park. The site operated as the Old Soldiers Home for Confederate Veterans from 1902 to 1939. In 1964, the Alabama State Legislature established the memorial park, which now hosts a museum and archives[89]
The red and gray city flag includes a strip of stars from the Confederate Battle Flag.
Notes
^"In an effort to assist the efforts of local communities to re-examine these symbols, the SPLC launched a study to catalog them. For the final tally, the researchers excluded nearly 2,600 markers, battlefields, museums, cemeteries and other places or symbols that are largely historical in nature."[1]
^ abCoski, John M. (2005). The Confederate Battle Flag: America's Most Embattled Emblem. United States of America: First Harvard University Press. pp. 80–81. ISBN978-0-674-01983-6. Archived from the original on 2016-03-09. Retrieved March 8, 2016. The flag changes in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida coincided with the passage of formal Jim Crow segregation laws throughout the South. Four years before Mississippi incorporated a Confederate battle flag into its state flag, its constitutional convention passed pioneering provisions to 'reform' politics by effectively disenfranchising most African Americans.
^White, Marjorie Longenecker, Richard W. Sprague, G. Gray Plosser Jr. Editors, Downtown Birmingham Architectural and Historical Walking Tour Guide, Birmingham Historical Society, The First National Bank of Birmingham, 1980 p. 91
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