List of Confederate monuments and memorials


This is a list of Confederate monuments and memorials that were established as public displays and symbols of the Confederate States of America, 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. In a December 2018 special report, Smithsonian Magazine stated, "over the past ten years, taxpayers have directed at least $40 million to Confederate monuments—statues, homes, parks, museums, libraries and cemeteries—and to Confederate heritage organizations."
This list does not include figures connected with the origins of the Civil War or white supremacy, but not with the Confederacy, including statues of Supreme Court Justice Roger B. Taney in Annapolis, Baltimore, and Frederick, Maryland; the county and city named for pro-slavery congressman Preston Brooks; a controversial portrait of North Carolina Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin; and numerous memorials to Southern politician John C. Calhoun, although monuments to Calhoun "have been the most consistent targets" of vandals. It also does not include post-Civil War white supremacists, such as North Carolina Governor Charles Aycock and Mississippi Governor James K. Vardaman.
Monuments and memorials are listed below alphabetically by state, and by city within each state. States not listed have no known qualifying items for the list. For monuments and memorials which have been removed, consult Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials.

History

Monument building and dedications

Memorials have been erected on public spaces either at public expense or funded by private organizations and donors. Numerous private memorials have also been erected.
, by year of establishment. Most of these were put up either during the Jim Crow era or during the Civil Rights Movement. These two periods also coincided with the 50th and 100th anniversaries of the Civil War.
According to Smithsonian Magazine, "Confederate monuments aren't just heirlooms, the artifacts of a bygone era. Instead, American taxpayers are still heavily investing in these tributes today." The report also concluded that the monuments were constructed and are regularly maintained in promotion of Lost Cause, white supremacist mythology, and over the many decades of their establishment, African American leaders regularly protested these memorials and what they represented.
A small number of memorializations were made during the war, mainly as ship and place names. After the war, Robert E. Lee said on several occasions that he was opposed to any monuments, as they would, in his opinion, "keep open the sores of war". Nevertheless, monuments and memorials continued to be dedicated shortly after the American Civil War. Many more monuments were dedicated in the years after 1890, when Congress established the first National Military Park at Chickamauga and Chattanooga, and by the turn of the twentieth century, five battlefields from the Civil War had been preserved: Chickamauga-Chattanooga,
Antietam, Gettysburg, Shiloh, and Vicksburg. At Vicksburg National Military Park, more than 95 percent of the park's monuments were erected in the first eighteen years after the park was established in 1899.

Jim Crow

Confederate monument-building has often been part of widespread campaigns to promote and justify Jim Crow laws in the South. According to the American Historical Association, the erection of Confederate monuments during the early twentieth century was "part and parcel of the initiation of legally mandated segregation and widespread disenfranchisement across the South." According to the AHA, memorials to the Confederacy erected during this period "were intended, in part, to obscure the terrorism required to overthrow Reconstruction, and to intimidate African Americans politically and isolate them from the mainstream of public life." A later wave of monument building coincided with the civil rights movement, and according to the AHA "these symbols of white supremacy are still being invoked for similar purposes." According to Smithsonian Magazine, "far from simply being markers of historic events and people, as proponents argue, these memorials were created and funded by Jim Crow governments to pay homage to a slave-owning society and to serve as blunt assertions of dominance over African-Americans."
, 2016
According to historian Jane Dailey from the University of Chicago, in many cases, the purpose of the monuments was not to celebrate the past but rather to promote a "white supremacist future". Another historian, Karen L. Cox, from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, has written that the monuments are "a legacy of the brutally racist Jim Crow era", and that "the whole point of Confederate monuments is to celebrate white supremacy". Another historian from UNC, James Leloudis, stated that "The funders and backers of these monuments are very explicit that they are requiring a political education and a legitimacy for the Jim Crow era and the right of white men to rule." They were erected without the consent or even input of Southern African Americans, who remembered the Civil War far differently, and who had no interest in honoring those who fought to keep them enslaved. According to Civil War historian Judith Giesberg, professor of history at Villanova University, "White supremacy is really what these participation trophy represent." Some monuments were also meant to beautify cities as part of the City Beautiful movement, although this was secondary.
In a June 2018 speech, Civil War historian James I. Robertson Jr. of Virginia Tech University said the monuments were not a "Jim Crow signal of defiance" and referred to the current trend to dismantle or destroy them as an "age of idiocy" motivated by "elements hell-bent on tearing apart unity that generations of Americans have painfully constructed." Katrina Dunn Johnson, Curator of the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum, states that "thousands of families throughout the country were unable to reclaim their soldier's remains--many never learned their loved ones' exact fate on the battlefield or within the prison camps. The psychological impact of such a devastating loss cannot be underestimated when attempting to understand the primary motivations behind Southern memorialization."
Many Confederate monuments were dedicated in the former Confederate states and border states in the decades following the Civil War, in many instances by Ladies Memorial Associations, United Daughters of the Confederacy, United Confederate Veterans, Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Heritage Preservation Association, and other memorial organizations. Other Confederate monuments are located on Civil War battlefields. Many Confederate monuments are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, either separately or as contributing objects within listings of courthouses or historic districts. Art historians Cynthia Mills and Pamela Simpson argued, in Monuments to the Lost Cause, that the majority of Confederate monuments, of the type they define, were "commissioned by white women, in hope of preserving a positive vision of antebellum life."
In the late nineteenth century, technological innovations in the granite and bronze industries helped reduce costs and made monuments more affordable for small towns. Companies looking to capitalize on this opportunity often sold nearly identical copies of monuments to both the North and South.
Another wave of monument construction coincided with the Civil Rights Movement and the American Civil War Centennial. At least thirty-two Confederate monuments were dedicated between 2000 and 2017, including at least 7 re-dedications.

Scholarly study

Scholarly studies of the monuments began in the 1980s. In 1983 John J. Winberry published a study which was based on data from the work of R.W. Widener. He estimated that the main building period for monuments was from 1889 to 1929 and that of the monuments erected in courthouse squares over half were built between 1902 and 1912. He determined four main locations for monuments; battlefields, cemeteries, county courthouse grounds, and state capitol grounds. Over a third of the courthouse monuments were dedicated to the dead. The majority of the cemetery monuments in his study were built in the pre-1900 period, while most of the courthouse monuments were erected after 1900. Of the 666 monuments in his study 55% were of Confederate soldiers, while 28% were obelisks. Soldiers dominated courthouse grounds, while obelisks account for nearly half of cemetery monuments. The idea that the soldier statues always faced north was found to be untrue and that the soldiers usually faced the same direction as the courthouse. He noted that the monuments were "remarkably diverse" with "only a few instances of repetition of inscriptions".
, Kentucky is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
He categorized the monuments into four types. Type 1 was a Confederate soldier on a column with his weapon at parade rest, or weaponless and gazing into the distance. These accounted for approximately half the monuments studied. They are, however, the most popular among the courthouse monuments. Type 2 was a Confederate soldier on a column with rifle ready, or carrying a flag or bugle. Type 3 was an obelisk, often covered with drapery and bearing cannonballs or an urn. This type was 28% of the monuments studied, but 48% of the monuments in cemeteries and 18% of courthouse monuments. Type 4 was a miscellaneous group, including arches, standing stones, plaques, fountains, etc. These account for 17% of the monuments studied.
Over a third of the courthouse monuments were specifically dedicated to the Confederate dead. The first courthouse monument was erected in Bolivar, Tennessee, in 1867. By 1880 nine courthouse monuments had been erected. Winberry noted two centers of courthouse monuments: the Potomac counties of Virginia, from which the tradition spread to North Carolina, and a larger area covering Georgia, South Carolina and northern Florida. The diffusion of courthouse monuments was aided by organizations such as the United Confederate Veterans and their publications, though other factors may also have been effective.
Winberry listed four reasons for the shift from cemeteries to courthouses. First was the need to preserve the memory of the Confederate dead and also recognize the veterans who returned. Second was to celebrate the rebuilding of the South after the war. Third was the romanticizing of the Lost Cause, and the fourth was to unify the white population in a common heritage against the interests of African-American Southerners. He concluded: "No one of these four possible explanations for the Confederate monument is adequate or complete in itself. The monument is a symbol, but whether it was a memory of the past, a celebration of the present, or a portent of the future remains a difficult question to answer; monuments and symbols can be complicated and sometimes indecipherable."

Vandalism

As of June 19, over 12 Confederate monuments had been vandalized in 2019, usually with paint.

Removal

, at least 60 symbols of the Confederacy had been removed or renamed since 2015, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. At the same time, laws in various Southern states place restrictions on, or prohibit altogether, the removal of statues and memorials and the renaming of parks, roads, and schools.
A 2017 Reuters poll found that 54% of adults stated that the monuments should remain in all public spaces, and 27% said they should be removed, while 19% said they were unsure. The results were split along racial and political lines, with whites and Republicans preferring to keep the monuments in place, while blacks and Democrats were more likely to support their removal. A similar 2017 poll by HuffPost/YouGov found that one-third of respondents favored removal, while 49% were opposed.
Time periodNumber of removals
1865-20092
2009-20143
2015 4
20164
2017 36
20184
20194
May 25-July 2, 2020 30

Geographic distribution

Confederate monuments are widely distributed across the southern United States. The distribution pattern follows the general political boundaries of the Confederacy. Of the more than 1503 public monuments and memorials to the Confederacy, more than 718 are monuments and statues. Nearly 300 monuments and statues are in Georgia, Virginia, or North Carolina. The northern states that remained part of the Union, and western states that were largely settled after the Civil War, have few or no memorials to the Confederacy.

National

United States Capitol

Bases

There are 10 major U.S. military bases named in honor of Confederate military leaders, all in former Confederate States. In 2015 the Pentagon declared it would not be renaming these facilities, and declined to make further comment in 2017.
Several ships named for Confederate leaders fell into Union hands during the Civil War. The Union Navy retained the names of these ships while turning their guns against the Confederacy:
, there are at least 122 public spaces with Confederate monuments in Alabama.

Alaska

, there are at least 5 public spaces with Confederate monuments in Arizona.
Type of monumentDateLocationDetailsImage
Public1961PhoenixMemorial to Arizona Confederate Troops, in Wesley Bolin Park, next to the Arizona State Capitol; UDC memorial.
Public1931PhoenixWater fountain at Maricopa County Courthouse dedicated to Confederate Army lieutenant Jack Swilling-
PublicPicacho Peak State ParkA commemorative sign and a plaque commemorates the Battle of Picacho Pass, the westernmost Confederate engagement of the war. The sign is "dedicated to Capt. Sherod Hunter's 'Arizona Rangers, Arizona Volunteers' C.S.A.", while the plaque states three Union soldiers buried on battlefield and includes both US Union and CSA flags. In recent years the sign was removed due to deterioration of the wood and the plaque was moved onto the Union stone monument.
Public2010Sierra VistaConfederate Memorial, Historical Soldiers Memorial Cemetery area of the state-owned Southern Arizona Veterans' Cemetery. The monument was erected in to honor the 21 soldiers interred in that cemetery who served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and later fought in Indian wars in Arizona as members of the U.S. Army.
Private1999PhoenixArizona Confederate Veterans Monument, at Greenwood Memory Lawn Cemetery; erected by SCV.
Road1943Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway marker east of Phoenix; erected by UDC. Tarred and feathered in August 2017.

Arkansas

, there are at least 65 public spaces with Confederate monuments in Arkansas.

State capitol

Courthouse monuments

, there are at least five public spaces with Confederate monuments in California.

Monuments

Schools

, there is at least one public space with Confederate monuments in Delaware.
, there are at least nine public Confederate monuments in Washington, D.C., mostly in the National Statuary Hall Collection.
, there are at least 63 public spaces with Confederate monuments in Florida.
An August 2017 meeting of the Florida League of Mayors was devoted to the topic of what to do with Civil War monuments.

State capitol

Courthouse monuments

members seated around a Confederate monument in Lakeland, 1915

Counties

Removed by the city August 15, 2017.
, there are at least 201 public spaces with Confederate monuments in Georgia.

Hawaii

, there are at least three public spaces with Confederate monuments in Idaho.
The settlement of Idaho coincided with the Civil War and settlers from Southern states memorialized the Confederacy with the names of several towns and natural features.

Inhabited places

Chattanooga Hot Springs, near Atlanta, ID

Illinois

The four memorials in Illinois are in Federal cemeteries and connected with prisoners of war.

Federal cemeteries

, there is at least one public space with Confederate monuments in Indiana.
, Indianapolis
, there is at least one public space with Confederate monuments in Iowa.
, there are no public spaces with Confederate monuments in Kansas. See Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials#Kansas for monuments which have been removed.

Kentucky

, there are at least 37 public spaces with Confederate monuments in Kentucky.

Monuments

, there are at least 83 public spaces with Confederate monuments in Louisiana.

State capitol

Courthouse monuments

, there are at least three public homages to the Confederacy in Maryland.

State symbols

Public monuments

The original monument, a bronze life-sized Confederate soldier on this pedestal, was originally donated by the UDC and the United Confederate Veterans, and built by the Washington firm of Falvey Granite Company at a cost of. The artist is unknown. The inscription says "To Our Heroes of Montgomery Co. Maryland That We Through Life May Not Forget to Love The Thin Gray Line / Erected A.D. 1913 / 1861 CSA 1865." because Confederate uniforms are gray. The Rockville dedication was on June 3, 1913, Jefferson Davis's birthday, and was attended by 3,000 out of a county population of 30,000. It was originally located in a small triangular park called Courthouse Square. In 1971, urban renewal led to the elimination of the Square, and the monument was moved to the east lawn of the Red Brick Courthouse, facing south. In 1994 it was cleaned and waxed by the Maryland Military Monuments Commission. The monument was defaced with "Black Lives Matter" in 2015; a wooden box was built over it to protect it. The monument was removed in July 2017 from its original location outside the Old Rockville Court House to private land at White's Ferry in Dickerson, Maryland.. The statue was removed from the pedestal in June 2020, but the pedestal urging people to "Love The Thin Gray Line" remains.

Inhabited places

Massachusetts

, all public memorials listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center had been removed.

Private memorials

Michigan

, there is at least one known public monument of a confederate soldier in Michigan. It is located in Allendale, Michigan a town in Ottawa County. A part of the Veterans Garden of Honor which features nine life sized statues of soldiers from various wars, the statue in question depicts a union soldier and a confederate soldier back to back with a young slave at their feet holding a plaque reading "Freedom to Slaves," and the date January 5, 1863.

Mississippi

, there are at least 147 public spaces with Confederate monuments in Mississippi.

Missouri

, there are at least 19 public spaces with Confederate monuments in Missouri.

Monuments

Courthouse monuments

, there are at least 2 public spaces with Confederate monuments in Montana.
, there is at least one public space with Confederate monuments in Nevada.
There is at least one public space dedicated to the Confederacy in New Jersey.
, there is at least one public space with Confederate monuments in New Mexico.
, there are at least 3 public spaces with Confederate monuments in New York.

Monuments

Private monuments

, there are at least 164 public spaces with Confederate monuments in North Carolina.

Ohio

, there are at least 5 public spaces with Confederate monuments in Ohio.

Historical marker

, there are at least 13 public spaces with Confederate monuments in Oklahoma.

Buildings

, there are no public spaces with Confederate monuments in Oregon.

Pennsylvania

, there are at least 3 public spaces with Confederate monuments in Pennsylvania.

Monuments

, there are no public spaces with Confederate monuments in Rhode Island.

South Carolina

, there are at least 194 public spaces with Confederate monuments in South Carolina.

South Dakota

, there is at least one public space with Confederate monuments in South Dakota.
, there are at least 105 public spaces with Confederate monuments in Tennessee. The Tennessee Heritage Protection Act and a 2013 law restrict the removal of statues and memorials.
The Tennessee legislature designated Confederate Decoration Day, the origin of Memorial Day, as June 3, and in 1969 designated January 19 and July 13, their birthdays, as Robert E. Lee Day and Nathan Bedford Forrest day respectively.

State capitol

Courthouse monuments

in Franklin, Tennessee
, there are at least 205 public spaces with Confederate monuments in Texas. "Nowhere has the national re-examination of Confederate emblems been more riven with controversy than the Lone Star State."

State capitol

Many monuments were donated by pro-Confederacy groups like Daughters of the Confederacy. County governments at the time voted to accept the gifts and take ownership of the statues.

Courthouse monuments

in Texarkana
.

Counties

Note: "There are similarly named streets in towns and cities across east Texas, notably Port Arthur and Beaumont, as well as memorials to Dowling and the Davis Guards, not least at Sabine Pass, where the battleground is now preserved as a state park"

Schools

Virginia

, there are at least 241 public spaces with Confederate monuments in Virginia, more than in any other state. Virginia also has numerous schools, highways, roads and other public infrastructure named for Confederates. Lee-Jackson Day is no longer a State holiday.

Washington State

, there are at least 2 public spaces with Confederate monuments in Washington.
At least two private properties contain a Confederate memorial or fly a CSA flag:
there were 21 public spaces with Confederate monuments in West Virginia.

State capitol

Natural Features

Brazil