County of statue: Winston County
Location of statue: Blake Dr., between courthouse and bank, Double Springs
Artist: Branko Medenica, sculptor
Erected: 1987
"DOUBLE SPRINGS, Ala. - Mayor Jerry Lester hopes an unusual bronze statue honoring Winston County's split personality in the Civil War will help his once ailing town win new battles in a struggle for prosperity.
"The "Dual Destiny: statue, unveiled recently in front of the Winston County Courthouse at Double Springs, depicts the north Alabama county's conflicting loyalties during the Civil War.
"The statue is of a soldier wearing a uniform that is half Union and half Confederate. Old Glory and The Stars and Bars ripple in the afternoon breeze behind the 8-foot 3-inch soldier.
"In the works for about seven years, the statue cost $35,000.
'"Its unique, different," Lester said. "We've always been a little different in Winston County. I think, in a positive way. We've got some very independent-minded people.."
"In the spirit of the statue, the county seat, on the brink of financial collapse not too long ago, is enjoying a double destiny itself. With a little imagination, the statue can even be seen as a monument to Double Springs' resurgence.
"Lester, for one, wants to parlay the colorful history of Winston County into tourism dollars.
"The county tried to secede from the Confederacy when the rest of the state seceded from the Union, with the area becoming known as the Free State of Winston, a name that still fits.
"Lester said the statue is already serving as a magnet to draw the curious to his town.
'"Lots of strangers have come to town to look at the statue," the mayor said. "Lots of out-of-county tags. There's somebody standing out there all the time."
"Lester said that's no accident.
'"That's the idea -- to bring people to Double Springs," he said. "If they spend $1 -- well, a little money -- we'll be tickled to death. And to get into Double Springs, they have to go through Winston County, so it will help the county, too."
It wasn't to long ago that the future didn't look promising for Double Springs. Three of the largest employers -- a garment plant, a oble home manufacturer, and a timber company -- all shut down in the space of a bleak year. Chronic unemployment cast a pall over the city.
"But "Dual Destiny," the name of Birmingham sculptor Branko Medenica's statue, could also refer to Double Springs' comeback, said Lester.
'"The industry is coming back and things are looking better," he said. "People here have always hung in there. They've always striven to do better."
"When local official first began discussing he possibility of erecting a statue honoring Winston Countians who fought on both sides of the Civil War, they wanted to show two soldiers -- one Yankee, one rebel -- shaking hands.
The inscription on the statue written by Donald B. Dodd, a Winston Countian who teaches history at Auburn University at Montgomery, reads in part: "The Civil War Soldier, one-half Union and one-half Confederate, symbolizes the war within a war and honors the Winstonians on both sides ... "
'"Johnny Reb and Billy Yank, disillusioned by the realities of war shared dual destinies as pragmatic Americans in a reunited Nation."' ~ Spartanburg Herald-Journal, and Associated Press, November 26, 1987