Confederate Memorial - Charleston, SC - Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculptures on Waymarking.com

The Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina, contains a section dedicated to Civil War soldiers. In the center of this section of the cemetery is a Confederate memorial known as the "Defenders of Charleston" monument.

The text on the back of the monument reads: "This Bronze preserves the memory of the Heroic Dead from every part of Carolina and from her sister states of the South who fell in the defence of this city. In proud and grateful remembrance of their devotion, constancy and valor, who against overwhelming odds by sea and by land kept Charleston virgin and invincible to the last."

Smithsonian Art Inventory Description: "Figure of soldier holding arms surmounts base which holds plaques with images and text. Rectangular plaque on front of base depicts a great arm coming down to earth from the clouds to drop flowers on a graveyard. A palmetto tree grows behind the graves, which are on the left side of the image. The grave markers are inscribed with names and dates. On the right side of the image is a funeral urn with the inscription: Sabel S. Snowdon/Feb 20th/1881. Plaque on one side of base features a stylized sunburst at the top with neo-classical molding beneath the sun. A medallion is beneath the border, with crossed flags and a garland at the top of the medallion and rifles beneath the medallion. An equestrian figure is in the center of the medallion. The rider's proper right arm is raised and the horse's proper left front leg is raised. A garland of magnolia, vines, and grain surrounds the figure, and the border of the medallion is inscribed. Plaque on other side of base features a sunburst similar to the image on the opposite side, but the moldings are less ornate and include rosettes. In the lower portion of the plaque a medallion is surmounted by a wreath over a pair of crossed cannon. The medallion features a soldier on the walls of Fort Sumter. The soldier holds a South Carolina state flag. The inscribed border of the medallion includes armaments and naval motifs."

From the South Carolina Order of the Confederate Rose website:

Buried at Magnolia are 2,200 Civil War veterans - a great percentage of the war's total casualties that includes five Confederate generals and 14 signers of the Ordinance of Secession. "The Confederate connection probably attracts the most people, because there are so many buried here from that era," notes Donald. A special Confederate section contains more than 1,700 graves of the known and unknown. One reads, simply, "Unknown, Three Bodies, Fort Sumter." Here, too, are 84 bodies of South Carolinians who fell at Gettysburg and were reinterred at Magnolia.

TITLE: Confederate Memorial ARTIST(S): Ferdinand von Miller II, sculptor; James G. Holmes, designer; Heath & Roberts, founder. DATE: 5/10/1870 MEDIUM: Sculpture: bronze; Base: granite. CONTROL NUMBER: IAS 76007189 Direct Link to the Individual Listing in the Smithsonian Art Inventory: [Web Link] PHYSICAL LOCATION: Located Magnolia Cemetery, 70 Cunnington Avenue, Charleston, South Carolina 29405. DIFFERENCES NOTED BETWEEN THE INVENTORY LISTING AND YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND RESEARCH: None noted.

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