The Confederate Soldiers' Monument, (sculpture).

The Confederate Soldiers' Monument, (sculpture).

Hayes, M., sculptor.

Walters, Samuel, sculptor.

The Confederate Soldiers' Monument, (sculpture).

Commissioned June 1872. Dedicated Sept. 3, 1878.

Obelisk: Virginia granite; Reliefs: copper.

Obelisk: approx. H. 25 ft.; Base: approx. 14 in. x 7 ft. x 7 ft. (16 tons).

(On front, lower left of base:) M. Hayes Richmond, VA (On north face of obelisk:) GEN. ROBERT E. LEE./CONFEDERATE DEAD./MEMORIAL TRIBUTE/OF VIRGINIA'S DAUGHTERS/TO THE FALLEN BRAVE./DANVILLE, VIRGINIA. (On south face:) GEN. THOMAS J. JACKSON/THEY DIED/AS MEN WHO NOBLY CONTEND/FOR THE CAUSE OF/TRUTH AND RIGHT./"THEY SOFTLY LIE AND SWEETLY SLEEP" (On west face:) PATRIOTS!/KNOW THAT THESE FELL/IN THE EFFORT/TO ESTABLISH JUST GOVERNMENT/AND/PERPETUATE CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY./WHO THUS DIE/WILL LIVE IN LOFTY EXAMPLE. (On east face:) QUIDQUID EX HIS AMAVIMUS,/QUIDQUID MIRATI SUMUS,/MANET MANSURUMQUE EST IN/ANIMIS HOMINUM, IN/AETERNITATE TEMPORUM, FAMA RERUM. signed

The monument consists of a tall granite obelisk adorned with copper medallions depicting the heads of General Robert E. Lee and General Stonewall Jackson in profile. The monument is placed on the top of a mound.

History -- United States -- Civil War

Portrait male -- Lee, Robert E. -- Head

Portrait male -- Jackson, Stonewall -- Head

Literature -- Tacitus -- Agricola

Occupation -- Military -- General

Occupation -- Education

Outdoor Sculpture -- Virginia -- Danville

Administered by United Daughters of the Confederacy, Anne Eliza Johns Chapter, c/o Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History, 975 Main Street, Danville, Virginia 24541

Located Green Hill Cemetery, 761 Lee Street, Danville, Virginia

The sculpture cost $2,000. Funds were raised by the Ladies Memorial Association which subsequently became known as the Anne Eliza Johns Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The Ladies Memorial Association originally contracted Maurice J. Powers of New York to create the memorial but he transferred the contract to M. Hayes of Richmond, who employed Samuel Walters to execute the work. The original portrait medallions of Lee and Jackson were bronze, but they were stolen in the mid 1980s and replaced by copper ones. The original bronze plaques were recovered and are now displayed in the Chapter Room of the Anne Eliza Johns Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy at the Danville Museum. The Latin quotation inscribed on the east face of the monument is from Tacitus' Agricola and the translation reads: "Whatsoever we have found to love in these men, -whatsoever we have held in veneration- still lives in the memory of man, and will endure through the eternal ages, in the roll of glorious achievements." IAS files contain excerpts from Clara G. Fountain's "A Pictorial History of Danville,"' pg. 102-105.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Virginia survey, 1995.

Fountain, Clara G. "A Pictorial History of Danville."

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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