County of statue: Bartow County
Location of statue: Cherokee Ave., courthouse lawn, Cartersville
Artist: Unknown
Fabricator: McNeel Marble Works
Monument erected by: The Daughters of the Confederacy
Dedicated on Dec. 5, 1908
Monument text:
(front & rear - cornice): 1861 - 1885
(front & rear - center base): [flag with end flipped over staff]
(front & rear - lower base):
OUR SOLDIERS
CONFEDERATE
CONFEDERATE
STATES OF
AMERICA
(Proper right - cornice):
C.S.A.
(proper right - center base):
Erected by
THE DAUGHTERS OF
THE CONFEDERACY.
---------
In honor of the men, of Bartow County, who served in the Army of the Confederate States of America. Those who fought and lived, and those who fought and died.
may this shaft ever call to memory, the story of the gory of the men who wore the gray.
(Proper left - cornice):
C.S.A.
(proper left - center base): Let the stranger who may in future time read this inscription and recognize that there were men, whom power could not corrupt, death could not terrify, defeat could not dishonor; let these virtues plead for just judgement in the cause -- for which they perished. -- Let Georgia, remember that the state taught them how to live and how to die; and that from her broken fortunes, she has preserved for her children, the priceless treasure of her memories, teaching all who may claim the same birth-right. that truth, virtue and patriotism endure forever.
Proper Description: "A Civil War soldier stands at rest. He holds a rifle with both hands in front of him. The butt rests near his proper right foot. He is wearing a canteen. The sculpture is mounted atop a graduated shaft with a stepped bottom." On the front & back of the base is a bias-relief depiction of an unfurled Confederate flag
"This Confederate Monument, standing prominently in front of the Bartow County Courthouse, Cartersville, Georgia, is typical of hundreds of such monuments that can be found throughout the former Confederate States of America.
"Bartow County played an important role in the short history of the Confederacy, due in part to her railroad lines and iron manufacturing capabilities. In May, 1864, President Lincoln's hostile Union invaders swarmed over this once peaceful land, looting, burning and destroying everything in their path. They also murdered numerous of my North Georgia ancestors along the way, leaving the survivors homeless and destitute.
"Pivotal events in the Great Locomotive Chase and Sherman's Atlanta Campaign occurred in Bartow County and both Sherman's diabolical March to the Sea and the Nashville Campaign had their beginnings here, just northwest of Kennesaw Mountain and Atlanta.
"The sentiments of the people of Bartow County are eloquently expressed in the inscription of this monument" ~ Confederate Digest
Remarks: "Cost $2,000. Funds for the project were raised in a 6-year drive by Lilly Y. Bradley on behalf of the Bartow County United Daughters of the Confederacy. Sculpture honors the men from Bartow County who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War." ~ Smithsonian American Art Museum