Did monument honor Confederate veterans or symbolize white supremacy?

A bitter and brutal, four-year civil war that rips a nation apart finally, mercifully, ends, and in its aftermath, the losing side raises monuments to the soldiers who fought for its cause. 

Seems like a simple, cut-and-dried scenario, but in the case of the American Civil War, it’s anything but that, according to historians who have studied the war and its lasting effects on American society. 

Those same historians contend the circumstances that prompted the initial proliferation of Confederate monuments in the early 1900s can’t be separated from the objects’ symbolism in today’s world, regardless of what proponents of the memorials say.

Such a monument stands at the Historic Burke Courthouse in the middle of Morganton. 

Bearing a striking facial resemblance to a young version of late movie and TV actor Denver Pyle, who portrayed Briscoe Darling on The Andy Griffith Show and Uncle Jesse on The Dukes of Hazzard, the 9-foot-tall Confederate soldier cast in bronze has towered over the courthouse lawn since 1918.

The statue’s presence has divided the community and inspired a vocal and persistent faction to call for its removal. But the county government’s hands are tied by a state statute that essentially prohibits taking down monuments that are public property.

Meanwhile, those devoted to keeping the statue in place have been less visible since violence nearly flared around the issue in 2020, though they’re no less steadfast in their opinions.

“It’s still hard for us to swallow that something like a granite block with a flag etched in it or a random, nondescript soldier standing at ready, what that means to people,” said Dr. Cameron Lippard, head of the Sociology Department at Appalachian State University, who moderated a round-table discussion on the topic in Morganton last spring. “We assume it’s common and the majority think it’s OK.”

But for many in the community, it isn’t OK, and historians say we can learn why by examining the socio-political reasons monuments like Morganton’s were erected in the first place.

Why were Confederate monuments erected?

The vast majority of the nation’s Confederate memorials were put in place during a period from 1900 to about 1920. It was a pivotal time for Southern history. Reconstruction had ended in 1877 when Federal troops left the South for good. Resentment about the end of slavery and the subsequent advancements made by African American citizens resulted in a backlash from white Southerners.

“When Reconstruction was brought to a halt, that’s when white supremacy took its legs,” said Dr. Leslie McKesson, a local historian. “The purpose of it was to restore dominance of the white, patriarchal society that had been developed and sustained since the founding of the country.”

That period of history, and the backlash that marked it, have names: The Jim Crow Era. The Lost Cause.

“When all this ends and the dust settles, you begin to get the Lost Cause,” said longtime former educator and local historian Dr. Robert McAdams. “It is basically the Southern spin on the Civil War, putting it in a better light, that it was Northern aggression, it was states’ rights, it was not particularly slavery and that slavery was benevolent.

“It doesn’t matter how benevolent they say they are, if you’re a slave and you don’t have your freedom, it’s not benevolent.”

Across the South, societies like the Daughters of the Confederacy and Sons of Confederate Veterans sponsored a spate of monuments like the one in Morganton. The edifices, many of which were placed on courthouse grounds, ostensibly memorialized Southern soldiers who died in the war, but they also served a more sinister dual purpose, McKesson said.

“All this was going on at the height of Jim Crow, at the height of mob lynching and domestic terrorism against Blacks in the United States,” said McKesson. “These are the kinds of things that were happening. At that time, that was the courthouse. That was the seat of justice for the community. It was a pretty clear statement of white supremacy, and when you come here, you know what to expect. You know not to expect equality, because this society is for the white man.”

Another set of circumstances unique to North Carolina may have also contributed to the abundance of Confederate monuments in the state during the period, according to Mary Charlotte Safford, a retired history and sociology teacher and former Dean of Western Piedmont Community College, who also holds a law degree.

Response to progressive movement?

A progressive movement launched by the Republican Party resulted in rising equality for Blacks in the state. 

“Something happens in the 1890s in North Carolina that didn’t happen anywhere else in the South,” said Safford. “The Republican Party was still alive, but it never had the votes to have a majority in the legislature, and they hadn’t had a governor for a long time. They partnered with a white farmers party called the Populist Party. Those two parties joined forces and they called that the Fusion Party. They actually have enough votes in 1894 to take a majority of seats in the General Assembly. That doesn’t happen anywhere else in the South.”

In 1896, Republican Daniel Lindsay Russell gained the Governor’s office. In retaliation, Safford said, Democrats launched an urgent initiative to take back what they perceived as lost power. “They don’t cover it up; they don’t give it a nice-sounding name. They call it the White Supremacy Campaign,” Safford said.

Safford said at least five White Supremacy clubs operated in Burke County. The movement employed large social gatherings with picnics and fiery speakers to build enthusiasm, and employed violence and the threat of violence to accomplish its objectives. The most prominent example occurred in Wilmington in 1898, when white supremacists overthrew the democratically elected Fusion government and killed as many as 300 people.

“Historians would say, the main reason these monuments were put up was to celebrate the success of the White Supremacy Campaign,” Safford said. “Many speakers, when these monuments were put up, specifically say that.”

Lippard said there’s no denying the white supremacists accomplished their goals.

“There was a lot of targeted and mass white violence through the Ku Klux Klan or mobs of citizens to remove or kill African Americans or run off entire communities, like what happened in Wilmington,” Lippard said. “That was in the background for all these symbols that were erected to remind folks. That’s where the tension is, I think. Maybe while Southern white communities thought these things were to memorialize the Confederacy, they weren’t paying attention to what other communities saw it as, which is a symbolic blockade of their rights.”

By 1899, Safford said, the Democrats had regained control of the General Assembly, and enacted a series of laws designed to keep Black people from voting. 

The institutionalized racism of the antebellum era had returned in a big way.

Location is a key

“Think about where our monument is,” Safford said. “If you’re a Black person and you’re charged with a crime, what does that monument say to you about your chances of getting a fair trial?

 “I’m not going to say people who are in favor of keeping the monument up today are horrible racists like they were a hundred years ago, but you need to understand the historical context and the white supremacy aspect of it.”

Even though the historic courthouse is no longer used in an official capacity, the message sent by its symbolic guardian still comes through loud and clear, and will continue to do so as long as the statue stands, McKesson said.

“When these statues are allowed to remain standing, those who keep them standing need to come to terms about what they’re saying,” said McKesson. “What message are they sending with those emblems? Whether they want to admit it or not, they are sending a message. And maybe it’s not saying what it said in the 1900s and 1920s, that we believe in white supremacy, but the message now may be, we are going to privilege the voices of these people who descended from this group, and we’re going to ignore the voices of anyone who disagrees. So even by failing to take action, there’s an action. There’s a statement being made.

“When there is no offer for discussion about the contemporary meaning of those symbols, when there is no open door for that, it is a clear statement of support for those monuments that are already in position.”

Marty Queen is the senior reporter for The Paper. He may be reached at 828-445-8595 or at marty@thepaper.media.