Ruckstuhl's bronze group, a MONUMENT TO THE WOMEN OF THE CONFEDERACY, has an impressive inscription by W. E. Gonzales. - South Carolina: A Guide to the Palmetto State, Columbia section , pg. 223.
The monument has been moved since the Guide was written. It is now on the south end of the Statehouse grounds.
The monument dedicated April 11, 1912 has a collection of bronze figures by sculptor Frederic Wellington Ruckstull . The main figure is a woman dressed in period clothing sitting in a chair. Behind her is an angel standing with outstretched wings holding a wreath over the seated woman. On each side stand cherubs. The figures are on a granite base with plaques on each side inscribed as follows:
Front:
TO THE SOUTH CAROLINA WOMEN
OF THE CONFEDERACY
1861-1865
REARED
BY THE MEN OF THEIR STATE
1909-1911
Right side:
WHEN REVERSES FOLLOWED VICTORIES
WHEN WANT DISPLACED PLENTY
WHEN MOURNING FOR THE FLOWER OF SOUTHERN MANHOOD
DARKENED COUNTLESS HOMES
THE WOMEN WERE STEADFAST AND UNAFRAID.
THEY WERE
UNCHANGED IN THEIR DEVOTION
UNSHAKEN IN THEIR PATRIOTISM
UNWEARIED IN MINISTRATIONS
UNCOMPLAINING IN SACRIFICES.
SPLENDID IN FORTITUDE
THEY STROVE WHILE THEY WEPT.
IN THE REBUILDING AFTER THE DESOLATION
THEIR VIRTUES STOOD
AS THE SUPREME CITADEL
WITH STRONG TOWERS OF FAITH AND HOPE
AROUND WHICH CIVILIZATION RALLIED
AND TRIUMPHED
Rear:
AT CLOUDED DAWN OF PEACE
THEY FACED THE FUTURE
UNDISMAYED BY PROBLEMS AND FEARLESS OF TRIALS
IN LOVING EFFORT TO HEAL
THEIR COUNTRY'S WOUNDS
AND WITH CONVICTION
THAT FROM THE ASHES OF RUIN
WOULD COME RESURRECTION
OF TRUTH
WITH GLORIOUS VINDICATION
INSCRIPTIONS BY WILLIAM GONZALES
Left:
IN THIS MONUMENT
GENERATIONS UNBORN SHALL HEAR THE VOICE
OF A GRATEFUL PEOPLE
TESTIFYING TO THE SUBLIME DEVOTION
OF THE WOMEN OF SOUTH CAROLINA
IN THEIR COUNTRY'S NEED
THEIR UNCONQUERABLE SPIRIT
STRENGTHENED THE THIN LINES OF GRAY.
THEIR TENDER CARE WAS SOLACE TO THE STRICKEN.
REVERENCE FOR GOD
AND UNFALTERING FAITH IN A RIGHTEOUS CAUSE
INSPIRED HEROISM THAT SURVIVED
THE IMMOLATION OF SONS
AND COURAGE THAT BORE THE AGONY OF SUSPENSE
AND THE SHOCK OF DISASTER.
THE TRAGEDY OF THE CONFEDERACY MAY BE FORGOTTEN
BUT THE FRUITS OF THE NOBLE SERVICE
OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE SOUTH
ARE OUR PERPETUAL HERITAGE.
William Gonzales was a local newspaper editor at the time he wrote the inscriptions on the monument he later served as the United States Ambassador to Cuba 1913 to 1919 and Ambassador to Peru 1919-1921.