The "Lost Cause" movement that sought to recast the reason for the Confederacy's secession and rebellion against the United States from the preservation of slavery to the preservation of state's rights started in the 1880s, when the United Daughters of the Confederacy decided to erect memorials to the glorious struggle of the beloved Confederate soldiers wherever they could find a willing taker. As Jim Crow spread throughout the South, and Southerners got tired of the bitter taste of defeat, there were a lot of takers.
The UDC spent the next 40 years erecting white marble statues engraved with flowery heroic verse that ignored the fundamental truth that the heart of the American Civil War: that the South fought to preserve slavery.
One of those thousands of Lost Cause monuments stands in front of the Bibb County Courthouse in Centreville AL.
The memorial consists of a Confederate soldier in his homespun uniform atop a tall obelisk engraved with crossed Confederate battle flags candidates 1861-1865. The soldier stands at parade rest, with his hand holding the barrel of his rifle, which rests on the ground.
Beneath the obelisk and pedestal flanked by cannonballs is engraved with text as follows:
[W side]
These were men who by the simple manhood of their lives, by their strict adherence to the principles of Right, by their sublime courage and unspeakable sacrifices, even to the heroism of death have preserved for us through the gloom of defeat, a priceless heritage of Honor.
[S side]
It is a duty we owe to posterity to see that our children shall know the virtues and become worthy of their sires.
[E side]
Erected April 26, 1910
by the Leonard C. Pratt Chapter
United daughters of the Confederacy
To the Confederate soldiers of Bibb County Alabama
[N side]
When the call came they left all for the front and for 4 years without recompense or reward, they fought bravely for local self-government and the rights of the states.
The square base of the memorial is engraved on all 4 sides as follows:
[W side]
TO OUR CONFEDERATE HEROES
[S side]
No nation rose so white and fair, or fell so pure of grime.
[E side]
"Fame's Temple has no higher name,
no king is grander on his throne;
no glory shines with brighter gleam,
the name of "patriot" stands alone."
[N side]
Many of whom gave all, and all of whom gave much.
The Confederate Memorial is part of the US National Register Centreville Historic District in downtown Centreville AL.
From the National Park Service: (
visit link)
"STRUCTURES CONTRIBUTING TO THE CHARACTER OF THE DISTRICT:
25. Confederate Statue (Court Square): 1910; white Italian marble statue of soldier in Confederate uniform, moved closer to courthouse in 1951 (from south end of square)."