The Monument to the Southern Women in War Times was dedicated in 1926 at war Memorial Auditorium in downtown Nashville, TN. It was funded by the Sons of Confederate veterans in honor of Southern women who, during the Civil War, tirelessly supported their husbands, brothers, and family members, most of whom served in the Confederate military forces.
The sculpture is of three figures, arranged in a triangle. The central figure is of Fame, who is holding an exhausted or wounded Confederate soldier with her left arm, while this placing a wreath of all of leaves on the head of a southern woman who is placing a palm of honor on the soldier.
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The Tennessee Confederate Women's Monument, also known as the Tennessee Monument to the Women of the Confederacy or the Monument to Southern Women in War Times, is a bronze statue on the grounds of the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Background
The monument was first suggested by Sumner Archibald Cunningham, the editor of Confederate Veteran, in 1894. However, once the design had been drawn, he objected to it, opining that it failed to convey "the divine qualities of southern womanhood."
Edith Pope, the second editor of the Confederate Veteran and a leading member of the Nashville No. 1 chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (later its president), played a key role in promoting the project.
Fundraising came from the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Description
The statue symbolizes women's role in helping the personnel who served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It was designed by Belle Kinney Scholz, who described it as:
It represents Fame supporting the wounded and exhausted Confederate soldier with her left arm while with her right hand she is placing a wreath upon the head of the Southern Woman, whose every nerve is vibrating with love and sympathy for the soldier and his cause, as expressed by the palm she is trying to place upon his breast, thoroughly unconscious that as her reward a crown is being placed upon her own head.
—Belle Kinney Scholz, Confederate Veteran, 17 July 1909
Dedication
The dedication, held on October 10, 1926, took place inside the War Memorial Auditorium due to a downpour. It was attended by 800 people, including Governor Austin Peay, members of the United Confederate Veterans, the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, including the president of its Tennessee chapter, Mary Lou Gordon White. Reverend James I. Vance, the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, "delivered the invocation.""