CONFEDERATE MONUMENT
ALABAMA STATE CAPITOL

HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT:
STATEMENT OF HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

© 2002 McKay Lodge, Inc. All rights reserved

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A. Introduction

B. Brief Construction Chronology

C. Identification of Significant Features

1. The Monument as a Whole
2. The Foundation, Base and Cornerstone
3. The Column
4. The Bronze Relief and Finial Figure
5. The Granite Statuary
6. The Inscriptions
7. The Cast Iron Fence
8. The Flagpoles

D. Statement of Artistic and Historic Significance

E. Patronage, Design, Production, and Celebration

1. Gestation: 1865–1884
2. Birth: 1884–1898
3. Life: 1898 to the Present

F. After-Notes

1. Origin of the Granite Figures
2. Switch in Limestone

G. Supplemental Information

1. Images
2. Sources

H. Credits & Acknowledgements

1. Author
2. Acknowlegements

A. Introduction.

The 85-foot tall Confederate Monument on Capitol Hill in Montgomery stands in commemoration of the service and sacrifice of 122,000 Alabamians who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Fund-raising for the $45,000 monument began in 1865 and was largely the work of Alabama women, as was typical of memorial patronage in the South. The Ladies Memorial Association raised the money through a lengthy effort involving bazaars and appeals to private donors and the state government. Due to pressing needs of widows, orphans, and Confederate veterans in the Reconstruction South, the cornerstone was not laid until 1886, when Jefferson Davis performed the ceremony with full Masonic rites just a few feet from the spot where he had taken the oath of office as President of the Confederacy.

In 1886 the foundation for the colossal column was in place, but another twelve years passed before the monument designed by Alexander Doyle (1857-1922) was completed with its handsome bronze allegorical finial figure of Patriotism, granite statuary by Fred Barnicoat (1857-1942) representing the four branches of the Confederate armed forces, and a bronze relief band that encircles the column. The elaborate dedication on December 7, 1898 (nearly forty years after the war, the highpoint of its commemoration) was attended by thousands who cheered the lengthy orations, poetry, and pageantry of the Lost Cause. Delays in the work and a last minute choice of Fred Barnicoat for provision of the four granite figures was due to a contention that arose between Alexander Doyle and the Ladies Memorial Association.

The Confederate Monument on Capitol Hill is one of the largest Civil War monuments in the South. Indeed, it is comparable in form and scale to many Civil War monuments in northern state capitols and major cities that generally predate it due to the stronger post-war economy in the North. The colossal columnar monument form, the patriotic and military imagery, the stone and bronze materials, even much of the meaning of the Confederate Monument is similar to that of other Civil War memorials—North and South alike.

As with the earliest memorial efforts in the North, the intent of those who met in Montgomery in November 1865 was “to build a monument to the dead.” Over the decades it took the monument to materialize, its purpose was broadened to encompass the service of all those who fought, as was also the case with later Union memorials. Like Civil War monuments North and South, it commemorates the courage and patriotism of those who fought, and especially those who died for their beliefs. Like many Confederate monuments, it acknowledges the South’s intent to secede to defend states’ rights and individual liberties just as the colonies had seceded from Britain a century earlier, and it accepts defeat of the Lost Cause while maintaining manly and regional honor.

Unlike all other Civil War memorials, the Confederate Monument on Capitol Hill stands adjacent to the Alabama state capitol building in the Cradle of the Confederacy. “There a nation was born, and there let its grave be hallowed,” wrote the revered “Mrs. Judge Bibb,” better known as “Aunt Sophie” to the thousands of suffering soldiers her hospital in Montgomery served during the war. With her contribution of $100 to the monument fund in 1885—the first subscription to that fund—she wrote prophetically, “I do not doubt that the monument will be erected, and prove a sacred shrine where we may repair, and, forgetting the bitterness of the past, receive inspiration from the memories invoked to fulfill the obligations of the present and develop the possibilities of the future.”

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow, a statement made at the unveiling remains true: “It stands revealed, a thing of beauty and grace, the work of Woman, the pride of the State, commemorative of man¹s truth to his convictions and woman¹s gratitude.”

Consequently, the Confederate Monument on Capitol Hill ranks high among the artistically and historically significant structures at the Alabama State Capitol and around the state and nation.
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B. Brief Construction Chronology.

The lengthy and still sketchy construction chronology deserves a summary. It is not uncommon for monument construction to take far longer than originally expected. The original patrons envisioned completing the project in just a couple of years, but in fact it was nearly two decades after the end of the war before the cornerstone was even laid. Given the economic and political challenges facing Alabamians after the war, the surprising thing is not the long time required to finish the monument, but the fact that it was eventually finished.

The foundation was constructed in the two weeks immediately prior to the cornerstone ceremony on April 29, 1886. The base was presumably built immediately after the ceremony. On 8 July 1887, the Montgomery Advertiser recorded, “All of the stone for completion of Confederate Monument on Capitol Hill has arrived. Messers. Curbow and Clapp, masonry contractors will resume work of construction as soon as bronze plates arrive from New York.” Progress was apparently halted for a few months at a minimum because the bronze plates of the relief are inscribed 1888. One year after the Advertiser article, on 6 July 1888, Doyle wrote the Ladies Memorial Association saying he had been informed by Curbow and Clapp that all of the stone had been safely delivered on the hill. The year-long time lag is inexplicable. It is unclear whether the stone was assembled before or after Doyle’s 1888 letter. Still, finances remained tight and disagreement between Doyle, the patrons, and T.L. Fossick (the owner of the Russellville quarries) became apparent.

On 28 February 1889, the state legislature appropriated $5,000 for the monument. In March Doyle wrote the patrons, saying that $5,000 would be “about sufficient to cover the actual cost of casting the statue and putting it in place.” He predicted about four months for that to happen. Doyle was anxious to install the sculpture and remove the scaffolding, even though $5,000 would not compensate him for all he had in the sculpture.

The governor’s message to the General Assembly on 5 May 1890 indicates that the appropriation had been expended “principally to payment for the beautiful figure which crowns this sacred work.” But it is not clear that the finial figure was actually in place by that date. Correspondence dated 18 February 1891 from Doyle in the Ladies Memorial Association record book indicates “about one-third of the stonework is completed on the monument as it now stands.” Presumably, the stonework would have been completed before the bronze was installed. Normally none of the carving would have been done on the monument site other than the removal of a few rough cut stone bosses that may have been left projecting from stones to facilitate rigging.

On 4 May 1891 the ladies met in city council chambers in a “special called meeting,” but there were no minutes—a possible sign of discord. In October of that year, Doyle acknowledged that “work on the Confederate Monument seems to be abated for the present. It needs the finishing touches to make it as beautiful as it should be.” On 25 January 1893, he wrote to ask the ladies if they were “pleased with the work as it progresses,” and if it were probable “an appropriation will be made in this legislature for the remaining statuary.” He mentions the work on the monument of Sinclair and Lawler, apparently masons supervised by Curbow and Clapp. (In March the ladies received a bid of $223.50 for a cast iron fence.)

In April several pieces of correspondence indicate a dispute over fees between the ladies, Doyle, and Fossick, who supplied the stone. Doyle accepted about $3,000 in stock in Montgomery’s Exchange Hotel, plus direct payment of Sinclair and company by the ladies, which left a balance due Doyle of $8916.50. By this time, all but the four military figures must have been finished, but the discord was not.

Four years later the state appropriated $1000 “to complete the erection” of the monument. The Ladies Memorial Association records a special meeting on 7 June 1897 for “deciding upon the statues representing the four branches of the Confederate Service.” They decided to employ Mr. G. C. Doud, a local artist, to “paint ideals to be placed on the vacant pedestals” of the monument. These ideals must have been full-sized flat canvas or board cutouts with painted soldier and sailor figures. On 17 January 1898 the ladies again discussed the “now vacant pedestals.”

On 6 September 1897, the ladies discussed a letter from Doyle regarding his contract and a letter from an advisor that indicated the ladies “could not be held responsible for turning over the completion of the monument to Mr. Curbow and Clapp.” In an undated record in the ladies’ minutes between 17 January and 20 July 1898, the ladies asked a committee to see Mr. Clapp “to obtain his lowest figures for the remainder of the work.”

On 20 July 1898 the Huntsville Weekly Democrat reported that the four statues at the base of the Confederate Monument were completed and accepted and that coverings were placed over them until the formal unveiling in November. On 1 December 1898, the ladies recorded paying ten dollars for cleaning the bronze battle scene that had been in place for ten years. On the seventh, the completed monument, the long awaited “thing of beauty and grace, the work of Woman, the pride of the State, commemorative of man’s truth to his convictions and woman’s gratitude,” was dedicated at last.
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C. Identification of Significant Features.

1. The Monument as a Whole.

The monument stands eighty-five feet tall from the Alabama limestone base at grade to the tip of the bronze flag held by Patriotism, the allegorical female figure on top. The tall stepped base supports a handsome colossal column that is banded with decorative carvings of wreaths at two points and topped with an eclectic composite capital featuring spread-winged eagles, swags of fruits, vegetables, acanthus leaves and volutes. A broad bronze relief band depicting a battle scene encircles the drum of the column’s base. A dentilated cornice and a frieze of stars separate the bronze band from the column’s shaft. Monumental-scale granite statues representing the infantry, artillery, cavalry, and navy stand on tall pedestals that are decorated with wreaths and flanked by bold volute-like modillions (or consoles). A metal picket fence that resembles the original cast iron fence encircles the monument at grade. Four recent flagpoles flying the different national flags of the Confederacy are mounted in the earth at the corners of the monument just inside the fence.

The monument is typical in form for large Civil War memorials of its time. Colossal stone shafts crowned with allegorical statuary and flanked by figurative sculpture representing various branches of the service were common monument forms from the time of the war until the Great Depression. Early examples in Detroit, Boston, and Gettysburg helped popularize the form for large memorials in major cities just as early versions of soldiers standing at Parade Rest by Randolph Rogers, Martin Milmore, and James Batterson established the pattern for county courthouses and smaller towns.

The style is elegant but somewhat eclectic. The colossal column is not fluted, but sports two decorative bands that depict wreaths. This is more characteristic of its period of design, prior to the advent of more refined classical forms influenced by the White City of Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exhibition in 1892-93, than to the time of its dedication. The cornice above the bronze relief provides an effective transition from the soaring column and windblown finial figure to the busy base of the monument with its statuary and decorative sculpture.

Here the eclecticism becomes more apparent. The heavy moldings and bold forms of foliate decoration on the limestone wreaths and modillions (or consoles) beneath the soldier and sailor figures obviously predate the statues, which were carved in obdurate granite with pneumatic tools developed during the early nineties. The base was the first part of the monument constructed. The soldier and sailor figures were the last to be installed. Alexander Doyle designed the monument and created the bronze components, but the soldiers and sailor were made by Fred Barnicoat of Quincy, Massachusetts and installed by Curbow and Clapp, a local monument company in Montgomery. Doyle’s involvement with the monument ceased prior to its completion after years of disagreement with the Ladies Memorial Association over creative control and finances. Yet the granite statuary, like the bronze figure and relief, present realistic figurative representations. Still, the granite statuary and the figures in the relief do not depict specific individuals or events. They represent a typical battlefield scene and the branches of the military. Like the granite statuary, the facial features of Patriotism are generalized rather than individualized. These allegorical statues represent groups of people and ideas rather than specific people.

The range of materials in the monument is broader than in most contemporaneous memorials. Bronze and limestone form a common combination, and granite shafts with granite statuary became common during the 1890s. Granite shafts with bronze or sheet copper statuary are also found, but the mixture of limestone with bronze and granite statuary is rare. The consistent grey color of the statuary integrates sufficiently with the white limestone of the column and its pedestal (but contrasts markedly with the darkened limestone of the monument’s base—a darkening caused by biological growth). Bronze soldiers and sailors in Doyle’s figurative style, as per his original design, would have integrated the entire monument better. They would have proven even more important to the overall composition if the bronze statue of a seated Jefferson Davis proposed by Doyle had been installed on the south face of the base near the ground.

The difference in color, texture, and deterioration of the stone in the monument’s base and that of the shaft and its base deserves comment relative to the style and appearance of the monument. The stone is apparently different. The historical record and modern physical examination indicate that the monument’s base is Alabama limestone from the Russellville quarries of T. L. Fossick. The column base and shaft are also reported to be Alabama limestone, but laboratory comparison of fragments with known stone from Bedford, Indiana and stone from Russellville indicates that different quarries were used. The monument’s base stone was quarried first, during the early days of the Fossick enterprise, and several years passed before that of the shaft was delivered to Capitol Hill. The two limestones may just be different grades of stone from different parts of the expansive Alabama quarry, or the upper stone may have been quietly imported, perhaps from Doyle’s family’s quarries in Bedford. Bedford has been the source of tons of oolitic limestone for monuments and buildings from then until now. Although the historical record consistently claims the monument is made of Alabama limestone. Still, one lapse in the historical record may be telling.

Two pages of the record book of the Ladies Memorial Association between 31 January 1887 and 7 February 1887 are missing. The studious secretary, Mrs. I.M.P. Ockenden noted their absence when she received the book in 1898. The stone for the column apparently arrived on Capitol Hill by the following summer. The only other lapse in a remarkably rich and comprehensive history of the association told by its record books is a “special called meeting” on 4 May 1891 for which there were no minutes.

Although the patrons employed a Yankee sculptor, bought bronze cast in New York and New England granite that was carved in Massachusetts, they appear to have been extremely proud of the Alabama heritage of the monument’s stone.

Regardless of the source of the stone, the difference in color is striking. The difference in color between the upper and lower stone would not have originally been so great. The stone of the base harbors organic growth in Alabama’s moist climate, and the resulting darkening heightens the contrast with the brighter stone above. This contrast, in conjunction with the mixture of other materials on the monument (plus the fact that at the moment the cleaned bronze bas relief is brown while Patriotism remains a weathered green and black), results in a crazy-quilt composition probably not intended by the designer or the original patrons. Moreover, to the informed eye, this hodge-podge of materials makes manifest the long, slow, and impecunious process of the monument’s construction.

Overall, the craftsmanship is top notch. The artistry of the design and finish of the construction are superb. After a century, there is a need for some re-pointing, especially to replace some sloppy re-pointing or caulking that was executed at some point in the monument’s life. Still, although the base has discolored and some of it has spalled, the foundation appears sound, the stones of the base still lie flat, the granite statuary retains its fine finish, the bronze relief panels fit snugly, and the colossal shaft stands straight and tall, crowned by the weathered but otherwise intact monumental bronze figure of Patriotism. The metal fence—except for the corner posts—is a modern reproduction of the cast-iron original, yet it is handsome and well made. The four wooden flag poles added to the monument in the past decade are obviously modern in design, and somewhat Spartan in style, but the quality of their materials and craftsmanship are comparable to those of the monument as a whole.
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2. The Foundation, Base, and Cornerstone.

According to oral history and traces of data in the written documentation, the foundation of the monument is constructed of brick. Brick and stone were common materials for foundations at the time, as they remain today with the addition of poured concrete. Brick would have been cheaper than stone and consequently met the needs of the patrons in the mid-1880s when it was built.

The tall, stepped base including the pedestals for the soldiers and sailor are made of Alabama limestone from the Russellville quarries of T. L. Fossick. This stone is among the first Fossick pulled from the quarry when it opened. It has suffered discoloration from a biological growth on its surfaces. Moisture and inherent weaknesses has caused spalling and exfoliation in some stones. Granules can be rubbed from the surfaces of some areas. Nevertheless, the decorative carving of wreaths and volute-like modillions (or consoles) on the pedestals of the auxiliary statuary remain intact with virtually no breakage. This may be because the monument gets few people climbing on it due to the fence and its prominent location right outside the doors of the capitol. The inscriptions remain easily legible, although they are not as crisp as when new.

The thousand-pound cornerstone is located at the northeast corner of the monument. It was laid by Jefferson Davis, April 29, 1886, on one of his rare (and last) public appearances. The Masonic ceremony and the contents of a time capsule in the stone are documented in the Montgomery Advertiser.
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3. The Column.

The round column base and its shaft sit atop the twelve foot tall bronze relief section and thrust the seventeen foot tall finial figure another thirty-six feet into the southern sky. The tapering stepped base of the bronze band, the projecting dentillated cornice above the bronze, the heavy swag decoration at the base of the column proper, with the two horizontal decorative bands encircling the un-fluted shaft, and the eclectic composite capital combine to give the towering shaft pleasing proportions and a comfortable cadence that rises to the triumphant figure of Patriotism crowning the memorial. Doyle elevated the statue above the capital on a two-step impost block and used a hemispherical bronze plinth to make an effective transition to the finial figure.

The carved decorative elements are expertly executed, with crisp edges and convincing forms and textures. The eagles on the capital appear a little naive. The wings are diminutive compared to their chubby, feathery bodies. Moreover, from a symbolic standpoint, the very presence of an American eagle, the emblem of the United States, on a Confederate memorial is odd.

The inscription around the base of the pedestal remains easily legible. The carved date range 1861-1865 on the south face is raised in relief rather than inscribed. As with the moldings and decorative carving of the monument’s base, this is more characteristic stylistically of inscriptions from the 1880s, when it was designed than those of the late 1890s, when the monument was dedicated.
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4. The Bronze Relief and Finial Figure.

The circular bronze relief is not common, but is also not unprecedented. From normal viewing distance the half life-size figures present a convincing representation of soldiers in the heat of battle, but close inspection reveals a slightly coarse treatment of some facial features. Soldiers have characteristic features, like angular Anglo-Saxon faces and period beards, rather than the appearance of identifiable individuals. Some viewers, especially Southerners and Civil War buffs, may think of Stonewall Jackson’s shooting at Chancellorsville when they see the prominent wounded equestrian, but there is not a strong physical resemblance between Jackson and the figure portrayed on the relief. Moreover, Jackson’s horse was standing nearly still, not in a cavalry charge like that on the relief.

Cavalry, artillery, and infantry are depicted in a continuous frieze of moving figures. The sense of movement is convincing, but some of the anatomical details are a little off. The tight curve of the column drum accounts for some distortions required to wrap the relief around the base. In fact, relief sculpture is the most difficult type of figurative sculpture to create because it combines traditional sculptural challenges of giving shape and form to ideas with pictorial challenges of depicting reality on a flat (in this case curved) surface. The sculptor succeeded admirably, especially in suggesting large numbers of soldiers through the representation of just a few arrayed in the shallow depth allowed. In fact, relief may be a bit of a misnomer, since some of the figures are roughly half-round, and some of the sculptural elements (like the swords of the infantry commander and wounded equestrian and the rifles of two soldiers) are fully undercut and exist in space. The three branches of the ground forces are depicted in three convincing groups, with the cavalry storming up on the flank of the artillery, which fires over the heads of the infantry. As in reality, the infantry group is larger than artillery or cavalry. The foot soldiers are shown charging en-mass, kneeling and firing around trees, and falling and dying.

The relief was modeled in clay by Doyle and cast in bronze by the Henry-Bonnard Bronze foundry of New York City. It is inscribed by the foundry and dated 1888. Messieurs Henry and Bonnard ran one of the finest fine arts bronze foundries in the country at that time. The bronze was cast with sand molds, the only casting technique available in the U.S. prior to the introduction of lost wax casting by Roman Bronze Works in the 1890s. Even after the advent of the ancient casting technique, reliefs like these probably would have been cast with sand molds because the thin, flat sections are more easily cast with sand molds than with bulky investment molds needed for lost wax.

Fine craftsmanship is evidenced by the absence of porosity and patches in the surface of the bronze and the precise fit of the different sections of the relief. Unfortunately, over time vandals have removed a couple of swords and parts of two guns that were accessible from the tall base. For the overall visual integrity of the relief, these may need to be restored if adequate documentation of their appearance is available.

There is evidence of some former maintenance or conservation work on the bronze band. The band is a brown color while the finial figure is various shades of green. In the late 1970s state maintenance workers scrubbed the bronze band, as well as other bronze statuary on the capitol lawn, with an abrasive household cleanser at the behest of the governor. Once this misguided cleaning effort was discovered by a curator at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, he stepped in to prevent further use of the cleanser, and to provide Incralac, an acrylic coating for copper alloys, to coat the scrubbed bronzes to prevent subsequent discoloration of the bright bronze surfaces that resulted from the cleaning. It appears that the coating on the band has been touched up over the years to prevent discoloration caused by surface corrosion of the bronze.

Patriotism may have been scrubbed with the same abrasive cleaner, but the bronze has discolored. Evidence of Incralac or a similar coating remains. There is a typical weathering pattern of surface corrosion from light green on boldly exposed surfaces to a very dark green in more protected areas. The discoloration disfigures the sculptural forms somewhat, camouflaging the sculptor’s intent. Originally, the statue and the relief would have had relatively uniform coloration (typically a warm medium brown) with a little burnishing of highlights. The surface corrosion is not deep nor is it permanently disfiguring.

Patriotism does not suffer from lost sculptural elements as the relief does. The sword, finial on the flag, and all other sculptural components are intact. The sword is firmly mounted in the hand of the figure. The figure is firmly mounted to its pedestal.

Patriotism may seem at first an ironic concept with which to cap the Confederate Monument on Capitol Hill. During the war and now, the predominant northern perspective of southerners in the Civil War is that of rebels, traitors to the Union of States. Yet the South saw its efforts at resisting Northern domination of internal affairs as comparable to those of this nation’s founding fathers, who declared independence from a foreign power. The South fought for states’ rights of self-determination of issues, including slavery. This principal perhaps survives in the Alabama State Motto: Audemus Jura Nostra Defendere (“We Dare to Defend our Rights”) proposed by the director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, for the Alabama Coat-of-Arms designed in 1923 and adopted years later. The outcome of the war established the Union of the states, the federal government, as first and foremost, a higher authority than the individual states.

Nevertheless, throughout the monument’s dedication ceremony in 1898 the patriotism of southern soldiers and southern women were praised. Patriotism was recognized in the courage to take up arms in defense of “the glorious principles of liberty,” the valor to fight against immense odds, and the fortitude to endure suffering on the battlefield and at home. Conviction to moral principles and courage to stand on those convictions were deeply rooted in the South, just as they were in the North during the middle of the nineteenth century. People took the issues personally. Southern men felt compelled to fight for their states, the Confederacy, and their independence from northern domination in order to uphold their personal honor. The statue of Patriotism atop the Confederate Monument symbolizes the courage, honor, and devotion to duty of the 122,000 Alabamians who fought in the war, about one fourth of whom died for their beliefs. The fact that the south was not victorious in that fight is reflected in the gesture of the solemnly robed female figure, who extends a sheathed sword in her right hand, as if to lay it on the grave of the Lost Cause. In her left hand she still clutches the Confederate banner, just as many over the years have continued to clutch the Confederate banner as a symbol of southern heritage, cavalier valor, and a commitment to personal independence.

Doyle represented Patriotism as a classical goddess, a big-boned allegorical figure wearing a high-belted floor-length robe. She stands with her weight on her proper right leg, her left knee bent slightly. Her head is held high but her gaze is lowered to the sheathed sword in her right hand. Her long hair is pulled into a bun, enhancing the gracefulness of her long neck. A length of fabric draped from her right shoulder to her left hip is billowed by the wind. This drape animates the outline of the sculpture from several angles, adding a sense of movement to the otherwise static figure whose feet are close together. Although Patriotism does not stride forward on her tiny perch, the fluttering drapery evokes movement and even suggests the winged Nike, or Victory, figures from Greek antiquity that alighted momentarily to bestow victory upon Athena-favored military or athletic contestants. This subtle suggestion may have been in the minds of the artist, patrons, or viewers who recognize the Confederate Monument as commemoration of courage and devotion to duty—despite the political outcome of the war.
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5. The Granite Statuary.

The four granite statues representing Infantry, Artillery, Cavalry, and the Navy were produced by Fred Barnicoat of Quincy, Massachusetts. Doyle’s design included four statues of this type, but they were originally intended to be cast in bronze from models created by Doyle. Due to the long time required to raise funds for the monument, as well as numerous disagreements between the designer and the Ladies Memorial Association (which are documented in their record books at the Alabama Department of Archives and History), the contract for the four military figures eventually went to Curbow and Clapp, a local monument company. They apparently contracted with Fred Barnicoat, one of the largest and most prominent producers of granite statuary in the country. Economics probably played a role in the decision to part from Doyle’s design for bronze sculptures. At the time, granite statuary was cheaper.

The statues are cut in granite, probably Westerly granite, a rare, consistent, fine-grained blue-grey stone well suited for statuary. However, a positive identification of the granite was not made and Barnicoat also worked in Quincy granite. The sculptures appear to be cut from so-called “stock” models that were used by the granite carvers for reproductions that adorn monuments and memorials around the country. Such statuary would have been less expensive and more readily available than custom-designed statuary that would have required the creation of new clay models (possibly new full-scale molds and plaster models), and the carving of unfamiliar forms and textures.

The design and finish of the four figures is typical of such work during that period. Each statue provides a characteristic representation of one branch of the armed forces, using clothing, accouterments, and weapons to identify it. The poses also contribute to the characterization. The resolute infantryman stands at parade rest. The gallant artilleryman holds his ramrod. The hell-for-leather cavalryman with his aggressive stance draws his sword. And the handsome sailor gazes into the distance while leaning on the capstan. On the whole, the anatomy of these over-life-size figures is very accurate, although the right arm of the artilleryman is a little distorted. The surface textures of skin, cloth, sword, rope, and ramrod are all convincingly executed.

The edges on one belt buckle are a little indistinct and the overall surface textures of several figures are generalized slightly. These details indicate that the granite figures may have been sand blasted in the past to clean them. Also, there is a hint of orange staining on some of the granite that suggests they may have been cleaned with muriatic acid in recent years and not washed thoroughly.

Each figure is monolithic—carved from a single piece of stone (with the exception of the swab of the ramrod, which is carved separately and attached to the shaft). The compositions accommodate the monolithic execution. The sword and scabbard of the cavalryman are integrated into the figure’s legs. The infantryman’s gun is carved in relief against his knee-length coat. The contraposto stance of the artilleryman enables the artist to spread the feet apart to provide a broad base for the heavy stone figure. The sailor is supported by the capstan. Stone sculptures of this period often had supporting devices like the capstan to strengthen the statue lest the thin legs carrying the immense weight of the torso not stand the test. Unlike bronze, which is hollow and has great tensile strength, stone sculpture is solid, heavy, and extremely resistant to compression, but thin pieces are prone to breakage.
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6. The Inscriptions.

The inscriptions on the monument are recorded below with their sources when known.

Circling the base of the pedestal:

On the pedestal of Infantry, written by Miss C. T. Raoul, an elderly Montgomerian who fired the first gun that proclaimed Alabama’s secession and who unveiled the statue:

On the pedestal of Artillery, written by Mrs. I. M. Porter Ockenden, secretary of the Ladies Memorial Association:

On the pedestal of Navy, by an anonymous author:

On the pedestal of Cavalry, written by Frances O. Tichnor:

On the cornerstone on the northeastern corner of the monument:

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7. The Cast Iron Fence.

Cast iron fences were common parts of many American nineteenth-century monuments until the Beaux-Arts style of architecture championed at the World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1892–93 popularized monumental architecture that integrates memorials with the landscape rather than separating them with barriers. The receipt for the original fence, purchased through Curbow and Clapp, is in the files of the Ladies Memorial Association. The current corner-posts appear to be the originals or vintage, but the original fence panels have been lost. They have been replaced with a modern metal fence that is a reasonable facsimile of the original. Lacking any detailed pictorial documentation of the original fence, the existing modern fence and old posts should be maintained.
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8. The Flagpoles.

The four flagpoles inside the corners of the fence have been added to the monument over the past decade. These have metal brackets mounted in concrete footings. The brackets hold lathe-turned wooden poles of traditional (but not nineteenth-century) design. The poles fly modern reproductions of four different Confederate flags:

1861 First National Confederate Flag
(“Stars & Bars”).

1863 Second National Confederate Flag
(“Stainless Banner”).

1865 Third National Confederate Flag.

The Confederate Battle Flag.
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D. Statement of Artistic and Historic Significance.

“It stands revealed, a thing of beauty and grace, the work of Woman, the pride of the State, commemorative of man’s truth to his convictions and woman’s gratitude.”

Mrs. I. M. Porter Ockenden pretty well summed up the monument with those words in her history of the structure. It is indeed a thing of beauty and grace, the soaring column shaft topped by the fulsome figure of Patriotism graciously bestowing the sheathed sword on the birthplace of the Confederacy. The broad, tall base, the bold soldiers and sailors carved for eternity in obdurate grey granite, and the compelling relief battle scene contribute to the overall beauty and meaning of the home-grown memorial.

The commemorative composition is a little like a wedding cake—tall and white and encrusted with symbolic decoration. The total design as well as its components are not unique to the Confederate Monument on Capitol Hill, yet the assemblage is as handsome and effective as any other version of the relatively common Civil War monument form erected north or south. Although not as large or ornate as the half-million dollar Civil War memorials built in Cleveland and Indianapolis during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, it makes its point very effectively for a dime on the Yankee dollar.

In fact, given the impecunious condition of the post-war south, the achievement of the Ladies Memorial Association is notable—comparable perhaps with the courage and endurance manifest by the Confederate soldier and sailor against overwhelming odds. The ladies’ perseverance in fund-raising, economizing and dealing with Doyle echoed the quiet fortitude exhibited by women during the war. The female survivors and their daughters took their duty as seriously as did their men.

Other states may have monuments with their own special stories, but it is doubtful that any are better documented than this - and our story is relatively one-sided, since correspondence from the ladies to Doyle has been lost. Nevertheless, no other Civil War memorial in the state speaks as eloquently for the whole state. In fact, few other monuments in the state actually represent the entire state, on any issue. The Boll Weevil Monument in Enterprise can make that claim, though it applies more appropriately to the cotton farming regions of Alabama than to its forests. Vulcan represents only Birmingham and its surrounding iron and steel towns.

In some respects, the structure on Capitol Hill stands as a national monument to the Confederacy by marking its birthplace and maintaining its association with Jefferson Davis. In fact, there is no single Confederate national monument, although the Stone Mountain Memorial, Moses Ezekiel’s monument in Arlington Cemetery, the Confederate Memorial at Shiloh, and the monuments to Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis in Richmond on Monument Boulevard (or Monument Boulevard itself) may vie for the title. The only other commemorative structure of national significance in the state is the nearby Civil Rights Memorial by Maya Lin at the Southern Poverty Law Center. Its historic and artistic significance are undeniable. The Confederate Monument on Capitol Hill is not as distinctive or as rare as Lin’s extraordinary work, but it tells a similar story of struggle, courage, and perseverance that seems to resonate in the south.

Like Lin, Doyle and Barnicoat were leaders in their field when they worked on the monument. Doyle was born into the monument business and studied the fine arts in Europe. He garnered several prominent commissions, including components for three national monuments, the National Revolutionary Monument at Yorktown, the National Monument to the Forefathers (1853-89) in Plymouth, Massachusetts and the Saratoga Battle Monument (1885-1912). Three of his full-length portraits were commissioned by state legislatures for display in Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol. His work is also on display in the state capitols of Iowa and Indiana. Barnicoat operated the largest granite sculpture carving company in the country. He employed thirty men and produced up to fifty statues annually using the latest in pneumatic tools and other technical advances. Barnicoat even innovated the production of portrait busts in granite. He may have been the only artist and entrepreneur to create those. Barnicoat had the rare ability to both give form to ideas through modeling in clay, and to perpetuate those ideas through carving in a stone so hard that it is actually beaten into shape rather than chipped. In addition, Barnicoat possessed superior business skills that made him a financial success.

If only the whole monument were granite. There then might be no conservation treatment required. If the monument had been built in the first decade of the twentieth century, it might have been entirely granite, especially if it were located near the nation’s granite quarrying and carving centers of Quincy, Massachusetts and Westerly, Rhode Island.

But the monument, arguably, is made of native stone. The base is undoubtedly Alabama limestone, some of the first quarried by T. L. Fossick’s pioneering operations near Russellville. The shaft may well be Alabama limestone from a different part of Fossick’s expansive Rockwood quarry, which remains today a going concern. However, laboratory examination shows samples from the shaft to be very similar to oolitic limestone from Bedford, Indiana, where Doyle’s family owned and operated quarries. Could he have quietly imported the stone from north of the Ohio River through Fossick? Could the secret have been discovered by the ladies who claimed so proudly that the monument was Alabama limestone? Could that have helped prolong the construction, sour the relationship, and lead to the employment of Curbow and Clapp to solicit the last statuary from another artist?

Regardless of this minor mystery, the damaged stone in the base and shaft can be replaced with readily available stock in “Dutchmen repairs” pieced in by skillful masons. The dirt and biological growth that darken the Alabama limestone base can be removed and a biocide may be able to retard future growth. The bronze can be cleaned and Patriotism can be repatinated to match the bas relief. Both can be coated to protect against corrosion. Once treated, the monument will appear much more visually cohesive. Regular, professional care will provide the responsible stewardship the state committed when it accepted the memorial from the Ladies Memorial Association.

Col A. A. Wiley, a Confederate veteran and hero of the Spanish American War, spoke for the ladies in tendering the monument to the governor¹s representative, to wit: “

“I am commissioned by the Mayor and City Council of Montgomery, in their name and by their authority, formally and solemnly, to present this monument, built upon the soil and property of the Commonwealth, in all its grandeur and imposing beauty, to the Chief Executive of Alabama. To your keeping, Governor Johnston, as the guardian and custodian of the best and most sacred interests of the State, I commit this trust. Cherish and protect it; and with the valuable aid and loving assistance of the Ladies Memorial Association keep it in good and safe condition throughout the coming years.”

Appropriate stewardship by the state will insure the wisdom of Sophie Bibb’s words, written to accompany her 1885 check for $100 that started the monument fund:

“I do not doubt the monument will be erected, and prove a sacred shrine where we may repair, and, forgetting the bitterness of the past, receive inspiration from the memories invoked to fulfill the obligations of the present and develop the possibilities of the future.”
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E. Patronage, Design, Production, and Celebration.

1. Gestation: 1865-1884.

The war ended in April. On 23 November 1865 an informal meeting was held in the capitol with the object of organizing “The Historical and Monumental Association of Alabama.” Col. Joseph Hodgson, who was appointed secretary, gave notice through the press that the group would meet to organize formally the next day. In his words, “the sacred duty of preserving the memory of our gallant dead is one which will commend the devotion of all who lament misfortune and applaud virtue.” According to Marielou Armstrong Cory’s 1902 history of the Ladies Memorial Association, the purpose of the Historical and Monumental Association was “to preserve the historical facts in relation to the late war and to build a monument to the dead of Alabama.” Ladies and gentlemen were invited.

Cory records the report published in the Montgomery Advertiser: “We desire a pall dropped upon the past except so far as their patriotic devotion is to be recorded. The grave of the hero is sacred everywhere—the impulses which prompt to its veneration are indifferent to neither friend nor foe... In this sense we desire to record the memory of our sons, and erect a cenotaph which shall at once be sacred to their names and battlefields. Nor will it be said by the invidious critic that this pious task is affected by unfaithfulness to our now common country.... Let us all unite in erecting a pillar for the dead of Alabama in the solemnity and manliness of a yet free people. Let it record only of her sons what the traveler reads of the gallant Spartans who fell at Thermopylae: ‘We lie here in obedience to the laws of our country.’”

The first resolution stipulated that the state legislature be memorialized for a $5,000 appropriation “as a basis of capital upon which to begin the erection of a monument on the Capitol grounds with the inscription: ‘Alabama honors her sons who died in her service’.” The second resolution stipulated “That the outside of said monument shall be built of solid marble, and under the supervision and after the plan hereafter agreed upon...” But there is no evidence of a specific plan or design for the monument at this time. The original architectural drawings have not come to light and the earliest image of the design apparently dates to the 1880s. Finally, the association resolved “That every man, woman, and child of the State who authorize the Secretary to record their names shall be considered a member of the Association.”

According to Hodgson, over the winter: “Nothing was done to move forward the monument. Congress, which met in December 1865, was preparing the Reconstruction scheme that threatened subversion of the State government, and no one could predict the future. So deep was the gloom that no one was disposed to embark on even philanthropic movements that might be tortured into displays of latent rebellion. The Society remained quiet until appeals came from the battle-fields for protection of the graves of our soldiers.” Appeals like those would delay the monument effort for years, but they illuminate the environment in which the Confederate Monument took root.

On 3 March 1866, “An Appeal for the Dead” published in the Montgomery Mail indicates receipt of a letter from Winchester, Virginia saying that the ladies there were preparing a cemetery: “for the reception of those remains which are not removed by friends. The ploughshare is now passing over their graves and soon the places which once knew of their gallant devotion on the banks of the Shenandoah will know them no more forever, unless the hand of pious affection collects their ashes and marks their resting place in some consecrated ground.” Two weeks later the Historical and Monumental Association Executive Committee met and appointed a commissioner to “proceed to the battlefields of Virginia and other States to collect and protect from desecration the remains of her gallant dead.” They also moved to appoint vice presidents for each county and encouraged ladies to hold bazaars on the first day of May to “raise money enough to give the remains of our dead decent burial.”

That April, on the anniversaries of the battle of Selma (April 2) and Lee’s surrender (April 9), ladies in Selma and Columbus, Georgia honored soldiers’ graves there with proper interment and flowers. Mrs. Lizzie Rutherford Ellis is credited for the first Confederate Memorial Day along with Mrs. Anne Williams for her March 12, 1866 letter to the editor of the Columbus newspaper which put forth the idea of setting aside April 26th annually as the observance of the South’s “All Soul¹s Day.”

On 11 April 1866 Montgomery’s Judge Phelan, who lost several sons in the war—two then still sleeping on the battlefields—appealed to the local ladies “to devote the first evenings of the coming May to a fair or festival by which money can be made” to care for the graves of the dead. The appeal said: “With your aid, daughters of Montgomery, the Mecca of Alabama will be the cemeteries of her soldiers. To collect their remains within church-yards which look out upon the fields of battle and to decorate them with the simple emblems of purity and holiness, will adorn the abyss of ruin with a splendor as enduring as that of the eternal rainbow which spans the precipice of Niagara.”

That very day, the “ladies met to devise ways and means for raising funds to have the remains of Alabama soldiers now lying scattered over the various battlefields of the war collected and deposited in public burial grounds or elsewhere where they may be saved from neglect.” They established officers and passed their first resolution: “That it is a sacred duty of the South to preserve from desecration and neglect the mortal remains of the brave men who fell in her cause, to cherish a grateful recollection of their heroic sacrifices and to perpetuate their memories.” Dues were established as $1 per year. All clergy were considered honorary members. The group was initially named the Ladies Society for the Burial of Deceased Alabama Soldiers, but it was later changed to the Ladies Memorial Association. Sophie Bibb was called to the chair.

On 14 April 1866, Hodgson gave notice in the daily papers for the ladies of Montgomery to meet at the Methodist Episcopal Church to take “immediate steps to bury the Alabama soldiers in a decent and becoming manner.” On 21 April, the Daily Mail requested that ladies ‘assemble at the city cemetery this morning and to have with them utensils for improving and repairing the graves of the Confederate soldiers.”

By this time word had spread of confrontations in some southern cities between Federal soldiers and women tending soldiers’ graves. Consequently, on 25 April 1866, Maj. William Wallace Screws, editor of the Montgomery Advertiser for forty years after the war, published a lengthy editorial in the Advertiser entitled “The 26th of April.” In his words,: “The heart must be dead to all the feelings of humanity that would object to the ladies of the South showing by this simple and touching act that they venerate the memory of their fathers, husbands, brothers and friends, who gave up their lives in a cause we all believe is just... No matter what may have been the differences of opinion produced by the late conflict, no one can doubt the purity of the motives by which the Confederate soldier was actuated, nor the unparalleled heroism with which he contended so long as there was a ray of hope.”

The next day, on the first anniversary of General Joseph E. Johnston’s surrender, the ladies decorated Union and Confederate soldiers’ graves at Oakwood Cemetery in Montgomery. And the Daily Mail editorialized: “The strong arm of the Federal government has been extended to prevent the plough-share from destroying the graves of the Federal soldiers, but there is no arm except that of affection to prevent the places which once knew the Confederate hero from knowing him no more. On the 27th, the Advertiser indicated: yesterday they gathered in numbers, according to previous appointment, at the cemetery, re-touched and re-decorated the grave of every soldier therein interred, planted and strewed them with flowers and performed such other offices as their fancies suggested, or as seemed necessary.”

On 2 May 1866 the first May Day offering in Montgomery was held. On the tenth, the first of many meetings of the Ladies Society occurred at Sophie Bibb’s home. Over the following ten months they raised and distributed more than $4,000 for improving Confederate graves in Richmond, Fredericksburg, Jonesboro, Resaca, Franklin, and Corinth. In 1868, the ladies committed $700 for a monument, pavilion, and chart of the graves in Montgomery’s Greenwood Cemetery, where a slender marble obelisk was erected that year. Eight years later the ladies approved a proposal to erect local granite headstones in the cemetery—3 feet tall with 1 foot below grade—at a cost of $3 each. It took six years to raise the $2,400 needed for that task, but on 1 May 1882, the treasurer reported stones were on all the graves and all were paid for. At that same meeting, the ladies requested that Mrs. Dudley Robinson give an opera and that proceeds “be given for the Monument to our fallen heroes and that said Monument be erected on Capitol Hill in the City of Montgomery.” The event netted $117.65.

Two years later, on 9 April 1884, the ladies established a Monument Committee and a “Committee to take charge of the Monument Fund.” A year and a half later, on 30 September 1885, the men’s Historical and Monumental Society was formed, chaired by Montgomery mayor and Confederate veteran Col. Warren S. Reese.

With the completion of their duties to bury the dead, and the formation of committees for a monument on Capitol Hill, the long period of gestation came to a close and the long and labored birth of the monument began.
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2. Birth: 1884-1898.

By the mid-1880s, Montgomery was booming. It became home to one of the first electric streetcars in the country, and a huge decorative cast iron fountain was built in Court Square at the bottom of Dexter Avenue. An energetic young mayor, a Confederate veteran, Col. Warren Reese, pressed the city into prosperity. Still, fund-raising for the projected $45,000 Confederate Monument went slowly, and construction was stymied by disagreement between the patrons, the artist, and at least one contractor.

Part of the problem stems from the existence of the two monument committees. The men apparently contracted with Alexander Doyle, but after raising $6,755 the men’s committee deferred to the ladies the responsibility of raising funds and building the monument. Doyle still felt he had a contract for the monument, but the ladies persisted in shopping around. During the late 1880s and early 1890s, the records of the Ladies Memorial Association reflect Doyle’s persistence in enforcing his contract and the ladies’ search for alternatives.

In the mid-1880s, the ladies continued to hold entertainments and bazaars to raise money and committees were appointed to canvas the several wards of the city to solicit contributions to the monument fund. In 1886, the ladies corresponded with Jefferson Davis for photographs of him and his family that might be offered for sale at the monument dedication, the proceeds to benefit the monument fund. At that time, the record books of the Ladies Memorial Association report about $1,300 on deposit earning 8% interest. A month before laying the cornerstone, Reese “gave the members of the association the great honor that they have won in the effort to erect a monument to Alabama’s sleeping soldiers. The ladies were first and have always been foremost in the performance of the sacred duty the living owe the dead.”

Laying the cornerstone.

That sacred duty was played out with appropriate solemn pomp on 29 April 1886 with the laying of the cornerstone by the elderly and greatly venerated Jefferson Davis, the one and only President of the Confederacy. Davis made the trip from Belvoir, his home hear Biloxi, accompanied by another senior statesman of the south, Gen. John Gordon, governor of Georgia. The trip took Davis on to Atlanta, and thence to Macon, where he laid another cornerstone of a smaller monument, and finally to Savannah. It was his last series of public appearances. He died in December 1889.

Inclement weather in Montgomery postponed the annual Memorial Day ceremonies on April 26. They were rescheduled in conjunction with laying the cornerstone on the 29th. That day about noon an immense procession accompanied Davis from the Exchange Hotel near the foot of Dexter Avenue to Capitol Hill. Owing to the continual rains, the place for the program was changed to the steps of the capitol, where Davis stood when he took the oath of office.

According to the Huntsville Daily Mercury: “about 2:30 the sound of the approaching band was heard and in a few minutes the shouts and cheers of the immense crowd made the ground tremble. The foundation only of the monument was ready. It is thirty-five feet square. The cornerstone to be laid by Mr. Davis was all ready for him. It bears this inscription: Cornerstone laid by ex-President Jefferson Davis, April 29, 1886. The monument itself will be from a design by Alexander Doyle, of New York City. It will be very fittingly built of Alabama limestone. It is to be eight-five feet high, a single column, architecturally beautiful and commanding. The base is in the form of a Greek Cross, up a flight of five steps. Upon the arms are four statues, representing branches of military service. The single round column rises seventy feet. Then comes a carved Corinthian cap, upon that a bronze figure, ten feet high. This will be a Southern woman in bronze to represent patriotism. A niche is to be left in the base for a statue of Jefferson Davis. The whole work will cost $45,000 and will require two to three years to complete. The artist who planned it is the one who designed the statue of Margaret of New Orleans, and of the late Senator Ben Hill, at Atlanta, Ga.; also that ordered by the United States Government at Yorktown, Va.”

Alabama’s ex-governor Watts presided. He made a brief address and then introduced Davis, who spoke for half an hour. The event is meticulously chronicled in the Advertiser. Grand Master Mason John G. Harris laid the cornerstone, which weighs more than a thousand pounds. According to the Advertiser, “Mayor Reese conducted Davis from the stand to the spot where the cornerstone lay. He laid his hand upon it, bowed his head in silent prayer; then the stone was lifted and placed where it is to remain through the coming ages.”

After the Masonic ceremonies a reception was held for Davis in the capitol and thousands of Confederate veterans shook his hand. Then followed a “long and imposing” procession to the cemetery. The absence of the elderly Sophie Bibb was palpable. She was too ill to participate. At the cemetery, Davis and his daughter, Winnie (the “Child of the Confederacy”), shared the stand with Gen. Gordon and his wife, ladies of the memorial association, and other dignitaries. Miss Minnie Reese recited “Rodes’ Brigade’s Charge at Seven Pines” while wearing the sash Gen. Rodes wore in that famous battle and standing by the flag that flew over his troops that day.

Euphoria, and more labor pains.

In the wake of Davis’ visit, the ranks of the Ladies Memorial Association swelled to about seventy-five and meetings were held once or twice monthly. Contributions ranging from a few dollars to $200 poured in. Fund-raising activities proliferated. A news clipping in the record book of the association dated 7 February 1887 indicates a recent bazaar netted about $2,000, making “more clear money than any bazaar ever held in Montgomery.” The ladies reported $6,828 on deposit in March 1888. Later that year they resolved to appeal to farmers for a few pounds of cotton each with the goal of each county contributing a bale.

In April 1888, the association met with Mayor Reese, and others representing the men’s Monumental Association. The ladies’ record book reveals that Reese said: “there had been some comments by members of the Association and citizens regarding the foundation of the monument. He said he had communicated with Mr. Doyle, a sculptor of national reputation, who has the contract for building the monument and he assured him that it is throughly secure.” Doyle had Curbow and Clapp make a thorough exam and they had pronounced it sturdy. Reese acknowledged an indebtedness of the Monument Association to the ladies, “who had inspired them to do what they had done in this noble patriotic work.” Col. T. G. Jones indicated the men’s association “would cooperate with them in their efforts to build the monument on Capitol Hill.”

Reese and Jones met with the Ladies Memorial Association and Doyle on 21 May 1888 and Doyle “gave a clear statement of the facts, and many matters about which the ladies desired information. Jones drew up a contract between Doyle and the Ladies Memorial Association and it was signed on June 30” by Miss M. D. Bibb (Sophie’s daughter, who succeeded to the presidency after her mother’s death in January 1887) and Jeanie Crommelin (Secretary of the Association).

On July 6 Doyle wrote Bibb, “I enclose the copy of contract (verbatim) signed by me to which I have attached the drawing—I [am] retaining the copy sent by Miss Crommelin signed by you.” But no contract or drawing is in the otherwise remarkably complete files of the association today.

Doyle continued: “As I am informed by Col. Reese and by Mess. Curbow & Clapp that all of the stone has been safely delivered on the hill, I have this day taken the liberty of sending to Mess. T. L. Fossick & Co. of Dickson, Al a sight draft on you as Presdt [sic] for 7500$ on a/c of contract. As it will not likely be presented to you for some days I trust this will be found a satisfactory method of making payment—as, on reflection it seems to me the simplest. But I had marked the draft “no protest” and will request Mess. Fossick & Co. to so collect it, so that in case there are any reasons that I am ignorant of for not paying it in this way, you can remit me a check direct for 7500$ and I will endorse it to Fossick & Co.”

The record book reports under the date of 24 July 1888, “Paid Mr. Alexander Doyle (Sculptor) of New York through draft to F. L. Fossick and Co., of Ingleton, Colbert Co., Ala. the sum of $7500 for stone for monument as per contract of June 30th, 1888.”

Construction apparently proceeded, with Curbow and Clapp in charge or at least supervising. Since they had probably never built a monument of this scale and complexity, it appears that the company of Sinclair and Lawler physically erected the structure. The record book shows that on 4 January 1889, Curbow and Clapp guaranteed the association against “any defect in the stone work...we agree and promise to make satisfactory to you or your inspector.”

At the end of February the state legislature appropriated $5,000 for the monument, provided it be used to “purchase goods and services actually supplied and not supplied prior to the date of the appropriation.” In March Doyle wrote regretting that the legislature should do so little towards the monument. He defended his fixed price contract ($47,000 complete; $52,000 with statue of Jefferson Davis) and bemoaned that he had paid out more than received and would have but a small margin of profit once done and “you will have the cheapest monument of our times.” Nevertheless, he was glad the appropriation was no less than $5,000 since that was “just about sufficient to cover the actual cost of casting the statue and putting it in place.” He wanted to finish the upper part of the monument and remove the scaffolding. He predicted about four months to complete and install the finial figure. He offered to “put the statue in place for 5000$ on account payable 4000$ when it arrives in Montgomery and 1000$ when set in place.”

He also chided the ladies: “that on artistic grounds I must recommend the female figure and not a soldier on top. A male figure is not adapted at all to the top of such a column—artistically or architecturally speaking. The cost would be about the same except that I already have at odd times prepared the female figure which forms part of the design. Besides there is a statue of soldiers to go below and it would not be good taste to have two statues of soldiers.”

Doyle finished the clay and plaster models. The bronze was cast by an unknown foundry and shipped to Montgomery. A 29 June 1890 news clipping in the ladies record book indicates the $109 freight on Patriotism from New York was cancelled by the presidents of the Georgia Central Railroad and steamship lines.

But discord persisted. The correspondence file of the Ladies Memorial Association contains a letter from Doyle to Reese dated 18 December 1890 in which he complained of the ladies’ intimations that they might contract with others for remaining parts of the work. Despite the 30 June 1888 contract documented in the ladies’ record book, Doyle wrote Reese: “of course, I have no contract with them unless the law should construe their previous communication with me as making them a party to my contract with the Ala. S. Mon. Assn. In fact, he may have been trying to bolster a claim against the men’s association or strong arm them into convincing the ladies of his position.”

Doyle went on: “the ladies are deserving all praise for their patriotic endeavors. I also have done my share in endeavoring to help the project, and perhaps foolishly on my part have actually put up more work than warranted by the sums paid on a/c. In short so far I am on the actual losing side. When the monument shall have been completed I shall not [illegible] any profit but my only chance to get back what I have put in and come out even is to so complete it, and of course I should be compelled to vigorously combat any other outcome.”

He closed: “I say this to you confidentially for my relations with the Ladies Assn. have always been pleasant and were it not for the expression in their correspondence before referenced I should have no grounds for saying this. I shall stop over in Montgomery in January.” The presence of this letter in the correspondence file of the Ladies Memorial Association reveals that Reese did not keep the confidence Doyle requested.

Doyle did visit Montgomery at the end of January 1891, journeying from Atlanta, where he was working on the statue of Henry Grady. In early February Miss Bibb and Miss Crommelin, seeking a $10,000 state appropriation, visited the governor, T. G. Jones, who had carried one of the flags of surrender at Appomattox. The appropriation passed on the 18th.

An interview with Doyle reported in the association record book on that same date raises questions about the state of the monument’s construction and reflects Doyle’s claim that he had invested more than he had received. He indicated expenses of “$16,000 for stone but $13,000 cash sufficient to resume work... The entire contract for stone work is with the quarrymen, and about one-third of the stone work is completed on the monument as it now stands.” This last statement casts some doubt on the assumption that the shaft was erected and Patriotism installed upon its arrival in Montgomery the previous summer. However, it may merely be Doyle trying to convince the ladies to ante up the balance needed to finish the statuary at the base and get out without losing his shirt. Doyle went on to say, “the bronze statues will be 7 ft or 7 1/2 ft or possibly 8 ft high; though there is a certain relative proportion which would have to be observed, and will probably require 9 ft. statues.”

On 4 May 1891 the Ladies Memorial Association met in City Council chambers. The record book indicates “This was a special called meeting,” but there were no minutes. The absence of the minutes in the space left for them in the record book bodes that there were discussions the ladies preferred not to record.

Alas, the record book chronicles on 1 October 1891, “Mr. Doyle ... will be in Montgomery tomorrow. He is in Atlanta looking after the Grady Monument... The work on the Confederate Monument seems to be abated for the present. It needs the finishing touches to make it as beautiful as it should be.”

A copy of a memo in the record book dated the next day quotes Doyle reiterating his claim for $13,000 and “whatever amount may be in the treasury not exceeding the sum of six hundred dollars additional.” In return, Doyle guaranteed that “the work of setting stone shall be commenced immediately on its arrival within a reasonable time thereafter.²

Fifteen months passed. Then Doyle wrote asking if the ladies were pleased with the work “as it was progressing and if an appropriation would be made for the remaining statuary.” He asked about the work of Sinclair and Lawler and mentioned it was nearing completion. Things must have been relatively complete, because in March 1893 the ladies received a bid of $223.50 for a cast iron fence to surround the monument.

Then a debate ensued between Doyle and the ladies over the cement used in the monument. Doyle wrote that the ladies’ “claim Portland cement was to have been used­which fact I dispute except as regards the stone work.” Doyle wrote on 8 April 1893 accepting $3,200 in Exchange Hotel stock and an association payment of $1,377.50 to Sinclair and Co. toward the $13,600 contract price, less $106 in dispute over the cement. That left Doyle due a balance of $8,916.50.

On April 14 Doyle wrote the ladies requesting that they pay T.L. Fossick $7,400 in lieu of cash to Doyle. The next day he wrote, “I received your letter of 12th inst. It explains why you did not send the full amount but scarcely why you did not send it deducting the 7400$ due Fossick” which he would have gotten “quicker by not interfering.” Doyle claimed payment had been “miserably delayed” as there is no dispute except the small ones which “you offered to settle for 50$” and he claimed the ladies were “liable for interest to the amount of more than double that and the quickest way to stop accruing interest is to remit at once. If a settlement is not reached this coming week I shall be compelled to enforce my charge for interest as well as for extra brickwork.”

The dispute drug on, and three years later, in February 1897, the state legislature appropriated $1,000 “to complete the erection of a monument to the Alabama soldiers who fell in the late war between the states.” The ladies met on June 7th of that year for “deciding upon the statues representing the four branches of the Confederate Service... it was decided to employ the services of Mr. G. C. Doud to paint ideals to be placed on the vacant pedestals of the Confederate Monument. They will add wonderfully to the appearance of the monument.”

In their meeting on 6 September 1897, the minutes discuss a letter from Doyle regarding the contract and a letter from a Capt. Falcones that “advised the Ladies that the Ladies M.A. could not be held responsible for turning over the completion of the monument to Mr. Curbow and Clapp.” In January of 1898 the ladies were still discussing the selection of statues for the base and Doyle, who threatened suit. Later that year they asked a committee to see Mr. Clapp with instructions “to obtain his lowest figures for the remainder of the work.” They also delegated the program and unveiling “to the taste and discretion of the president and secretary.”

Finally, on 20 July 1898, the Huntsville Weekly Democrat reported that the four statues at the base of the Confederate Monument were completed and accepted. Moreover, the paper indicated that coverings were placed over them until the formal unveiling, which was then scheduled for November. As we know, the dedication did not occur until December.

Dedicating the monument:

The monument was dedicated on a beautiful day. In the words of the secretary of the Ladies Memorial Association: “The dreary clouds which had heralded December were lifted, earth¹s tears were dried, and the matchless bonnie blue floated from line to line of the exquisite dome which rounded above the beauteous figure which drew her harmless sword against the sky.”

Like the laying of the cornerstone, the dedication commenced with a parade up Dexter to the monument, followed by several lengthy orations by prominent men of the day that extolled the courage and valor of the Confederate soldiers. The rhetoric compares with the best of the Lost Cause, concentrating on the commitment to principle practiced by the men and women of the Confederacy and defense of the southern states’ decision to secede from the Union to defend their liberty just as the colonies had declared their independence from England less than a century earlier. “Patriotism,” the title of the bronze finial figure, was cited frequently by multiple speakers. The focus of the day was on 1861, the start of the war, and the significance of the monument¹s site on Montgomery’s Capitol Hill, the Cradle of the Confederacy.

The dedication ceremony included an oration prior to the unveiling of each of the four granite figures plus a presentation of the monument to the governor and the acceptance. This was followed by an elaborate tableaux vivant featuring thirteen young girls who Ockenden described as “representing the thirteen states of the Confederacy, attired in spotless white, with grey uniform caps, bright crimson sashes and the badges of their various States.”

There is no better description of the long-awaited denouement than that of the succinct secretary: “These young women were representatives of old families and were grouped around the tattered battle flag of the Sixtieth Alabama Regiment, in the hands of the central figure of ‘The Southern Confederacy,’ represented by Miss Sadie Robinson, who was dressed in deep mourning, the only note of color being the thirteen stars that crowned her jet-black hair. Miss Robinson was the niece of the late devoted Secretary, Miss Jeannie Crommelin, and standing thus in the strikingly fair circle, she recited Father Ryan’s immortal poem, ’Furl that Banner,’ in perfect taste and deep feeling, which held all hearers spell-bound. Intense silence reigned until broken by ‘Taps’ blown by Capt. Courtney, on the clarinet, as if the sad parting hymn of dying day. Slowly the picture became a dissolving scene and the fair wraiths of the Southern Confederacy were lost to sight. The Rev. Dr. Eager pronounced the benediction. The Montgomery Field Artillery fired salutes—the unveiling was over.
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3. Life: 1898 to the Present.

The annual report of the Ladies Memorial Association for March 5, 1898 through April 20, 1899 reports “the contract for the completion of the work, transferred to Mr. Oliver Clapp has been closed satisfactorily to all parties.” (Curbow had passed away recently.) The record book on 18 July 1899 also indicates that $45.20 was “paid to Mr. Towles for cutting drip, pointing joints, carving inscriptions and cleaning.” At last the monument was complete.

But in less than a decade there was discussion of moving it. A 1905 article in the Advertiser regarding the remodeling of the Capitol and the possible addition of a north wing states: “It is a safe conjecture that there will come from the women a protest if the well beloved pile is in any way discounted by the builders. The result will likely be in the end the removal of the monument to the front of the main building, which may be done at an expenditure of not more than $2,000. This would place it in a much more commanding position than it now occupies and where surrounded with running fountains will add greatly to the beauty of the building and grounds as a whole.” Nothing came of this plan, but in 1933 a capitol renovation project included a $10,000 line item to move the monument to the foot of the steps at the front of the building. In 1966 a third scheme surfaced to move it to a new site atop a hill to the east, but objections were heard regarding the cornerstone being laid by Jefferson Davis.

In 1912 a flight of stone steps was built from Monroe Street to the monument and in 1913 a graveled drive with concrete walks and cement curbs and gutters were installed. Ten convicts and one guard were employed on the 1913 campaign, which cost $871.88.

In 1940 the Advertiser reported the monument had received a much needed cleaning, but gave no details of how it was cleaned, by whom, or with what. On 17 August 1979, Marshall Construction Co. of Montgomery proposed to use “your cleaning materials on the brass portion of the monument” for $8,823 including lifts and scaffolding, but the management of the Capitol apparently decided to do the job themselves. Bob Cason, still a curator at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, soon discovered the maintenance crew scrubbing the bronze statuary on the Capitol lawn with an abrasive cleanser. Cason drafted a letter for Milo Howard, director of the Archives and History, to send Bob Ingram, who was in charge of Capitol maintenance, explaining that chlorine in the cleanser would damage the bronze. Cason followed up by providing the acrylic coating Incralac to the maintenance staff to brush on the bronzes to prevent the prompt discoloration that would have happened to the brightly scrubbed bronze.

Although no documentation has come to light, there is physical evidence that the bronze relief (like the three other monumental bronze sculptures on the Capitol lawn easily accessible from the ground) has had additional maintenance over the past two decades to touch up the Incralac coating. Patriotism appears to have been cleaned and coated, probably in 1979, but has weathered since then. Traces of a coating that may be Incralac are still perceptible on the finial figure.

Written documentation on the replacement of the fence panels likewise has not materialized, but Capitol maintenance staff seem to remember the work being done in conjunction with repair and partial replacement of the similar fence that once stood on the curb of the streets that surround Capitol Hill. According to Capitol maintenance staff, the flag poles were added in the past decade, prior to the removal of the Confederate flag from the dome of the Capitol.
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F. After-Notes.

1. Origin of the Granite Figures.

Some delays in construction of the monument between the laying of the cornerstone in 1886 and its dedication in 1888 may be attributable to conflicts between the Ladies Memorial Association (LMA) and Alexander Doyle. The papers of the LMA in the Alabama Department of Archives and History document contract disputes that led ultimately to the LMA purchasing the four auxiliary figures of soldiers and a sailor around the base of the monument from Fred Barnicoat, a Quincy, Massachusetts granite carving firm, through Curbow and Clapp, the Montgomery monument company that served as construction supervisor throughout the installation of the structure.

2. Switch in Limestone.

Despite consistent, proud claims in the historical record that all of the stone in the monument is “Alabama limestone,” research in the papers of the LMA indicates a couple of instances where the minutes of meetings are conspicuously quiet, or missing altogether, when critical issues were discussed. Considering the thoroughness with which the secretaries of this organization normally recorded activities, the absence of minutes of a “Special Meeting” and the fact that two pages were torn out of the otherwise perfectly intact minute book suggests purposeful action to keep something secret. This evidence, coupled with the scientific comparison of stone in the base with that in the pedestal and shaft (described further in this report), indicate a strong probability that the stone above the base came not from an Alabama quarry but from Bedford, Indiana, the center of the oolitic limestone industry and the home of a quarry owned by Doyle’s family. Moreover, the accomplished carving of the wreathes and capitol of the column is characteristic of Bedford imagery and workmanship, and it differs significantly in style from that of the foliate volutes on the Alabama limestone base. At this point, neither research nor scientific analysis proves without a doubt that the pedestal and shaft are not Alabama limestone, but the studies done for this report are quite convincing.
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G. Supplemental Information. (Note: No architectural drawings, blueprints, or specifications for the monument have been found).

1. Available Historic Images.

No original design or construction drawings for the monument have come to light, but an engraving of the original design (Image 1 in list that follows) has been located by Old Alabama Town, and the Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH) has a picture post card (Image 2) by S. P. Tresslar of a drawing or watercolor that shows the monument¹s design. Both images show a statue of Jefferson Davis at the feet of the Infantryman.

A line drawing (Image 3) of the monument dating from 1886 is reproduced in a booklet at ADAH. This shows seated and Sailor surrounding the base.

At ADAH, the Places Vertical File, Montgomery Co., Monuments, contains several images of the monument, plus two (Images 4 and 5) that show military troops (possibly the Auburn cadets) and part of a garlanded speakers¹ stand at the laying of the cornerstone.

Old Alabama Town has a photograph (Image 6) of the dedication ceremony that shows the crowd awaiting the unveiling of the four statues around the base. A cropped version of this photograph appears on the cover (Image 7) of Ockenden, The Confederate Monument on Capitol Hill.

Old Alabama Town also has two photographs (Images 8 and 9) of the business establishment of Curbow and Clapp.

The Alexander Doyle Papers in the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum have several photographs of Doyle (Images 10 and 11).

Images of Fred Barnicoat and his cutting shed (Images 12 and 13) are illustrated in The Quincy Patriot­Souvenir Edition an Illustrated and Descriptive Exposition of the City of Quincy, 1899.

Image 1. Confederate Monument on Capitol Hill, engraving, no date, collection of Old Alabama Town, Mary Ann Neely curatorial files.

Image 2. Confederate Monument on Capitol Hill, picture post card by S. P. Tresslar (10 Court Square, Montgomery) of drawing or watercolor, no date, Alabama Department of Archives and History, Places Vertical File, Montgomery Co., Monuments, Confederate Monument (PN16456).

Image 3. The Monument, illustrated in Walter A. Taylor, The Confederate Souvenir, Atlanta, Georgia, 1886, page 3 (Alabama Department of Archives and History, LPR 117 Box 2 #117).

Image 4. Alabama Department of Archives and History, Places Vertical File, Montgomery Co., Monuments, Confederate Monument.

Image 5. Alabama Department of Archives and History, Places Vertical File, Montgomery Co., Monuments, Confederate Monument.

Image 6. Dedication of the Confederate Monument, photograph, Dec. 7, 1898, collection of Old Alabama Town, Mary Ann Neely curatorial files.

Image 7. Dedication of the Confederate Monument, photograph, Dec. 7, 1898, reproduced on cover of Ockenden, The Confederate Monument on Capitol Hill.

Image 8. Curbow and Clapp on upper Dexter Ave., photograph, c. 1891, collection of Old Alabama Town, Mary Ann Neely curatorial files.

Image 9. Curbow and Clapp on upper Dexter Ave., photograph, c. 1888, collection of Old Alabama Town, Mary Ann Neely curatorial files. Image

10. Alexander Doyle, photograph, no date, Alexander Doyle Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum. Image

11. Alexander Doyle, photograph, no date, Alexander Doyle Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum. Image

12. Fred Barnicoat, engraved illustration, The Quincy Patriot­Souvenir Edition an Illustrated and Descriptive Exposition of the City of Quincy, 1899.

Image 13. Section of Fred Barnicoat’s Cutting Studio, photograph published in The Quincy Patriot­Souvenir Edition an Illustrated and Descriptive Exposition of the City of Quincy, 1899.
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2. Sources.

Unpublished sources:

The richest sources of information on the Confederate Monument are in Montgomery. Most are found at the Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH).

The papers of the Ladies Memorial Association provide an exhaustive, yet incomplete, chronicle of the patronage and production of the monument. In addition to illuminating the colorful history of the group, the record books and correspondence files document official discussions of the monument, fund-raising efforts, and communications from Doyle and others who created and constructed the monument. Few memorials have such extensive documentation, and these are all in one place, right across the street from the monument.

The ADAH is also the home of astute curators Robert Cason and Robert Bradley. Cason remembers the 1979 episode when the Capitol maintenance crews scrubbed the bronzes on the Capitol lawn with Old Dutch Cleanser. Bradley is a relative newcomer, a Civil War expert, especially regarding flags. His knowledge of the cornerstone and Jefferson Davis proved as valuable as Cason’s.

Two other experts of great renown in Montgomery are Mary Ann Neely, a curator at Old Alabama Town, and Cameron Napier, Regent of the Ladies Memorial Association now headquartered in the First White House of the Confederacy. Their command of local history is invaluable and their gracious generosity with the information is legendary.

The Smithsonian Institution houses two research resources that provided useful information. The Archives of American Art’s Alexander Doyle Papers is the most substantial material on the artist in any one place, but it has nothing about the Confederate Monument. The computerized Inventory of American Sculpture at the Smithsonian American Art Museum makes reams of interesting information about sculpture from around the country instantly available to researchers over the internet (www.siris.edu). The Inventory of American Sculpture is an excellent vehicle for finding quick and generally reliable information on outdoor sculptures nationwide, thus providing context for the Confederate Monument.

Published sources:

Not much has been written about the Confederate Monument beyond the three books published shortly after its dedication by Ockenden, Cory, and Hodgson. Some of the short notes about the monument in various publications perpetuate misinformation about the original design having a statue of Jefferson Davis on top or the monument being designed by a woman.

There are discrepancies between Ockenden, Cory, and Hodgson. It appears that the latter two of those writers clarified the historical record each received from their predecessor. Yet Ockenden¹s contribution is substantial, especially in recording the elaborate and verbose dedication ceremony, a wonderful example of the rhetoric of the Lost Cause.

Cory, Marielou Armstrong. Ladies Memorial Association of Montgomery, Alabama: Its Origin and Organization, 1860-1870. Montgomery: Alabama Printing Co., 1902.

Hodgson, Joseph. Origin of the Alabama Memorial Association. Mobile: 1903.

Ockenden, Mrs. I. M. Porter, ed. The Confederate Monument on Capitol Hill, Montgomery, Alabama. Montgomery: Ladies Memorial Association, 1900.
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H. Credits & Acknowledgements.

1. Author.

Michael W. Panhorst, Ph.D.

In memory of my great-granddaddy, John Spier Furlow, and his daddy, Thomas Furlow, both of whom are commemorated by the Confederate Monument on Capitol Hill, and for all my family and friends who have fought for what they believe.

2. Acknowledgments.

Research on this project built on the solid base of data assembled by Camille Bowman and her staff at the Alabama Historical Commission. Prior to the engagement of McKay Lodge, Inc., they had compiled substantial reference materials from archives in Washington and New York and from newspapers around the state. This proved invaluable. Moreover, Camille Bowman¹s warm collegial relationship with local historians facilitated our research. Many thanks to Mary Ann Neely, Executive Director of Old Alabama Town, and Cameron Napier, Regent of the First White House of the Confederacy Association for their gracious kindness in sharing their immense knowledge of Montgomery and the Ladies Memorial Association.

Thanks also to Bob Cason and Bob Bradley, curators at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, and to all of the staff of that august institution, for their assistance in gaining access to the wealth of information on the shelves of that repository.
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