Jefferson Davis Memorial, (sculpture).

Jefferson Davis Memorial, (sculpture).

Tompkins, Laurence, 1897-1972, sculptor.

Jefferson Davis Memorial, (sculpture).

1935. Dedicated June 3, 1936.

Bust: bronze; Stele: granite; Base: granite.

Bust and stele: approx. 8 x 2.5 x 1.5 ft.; Base: approx. 2 x 6 x 5 ft.

Laurence Tompkins/1935 (On front of stele, incised lettering:) JEFFERSON DAVIS/PRESIDENT/OF THE/CONFEDERATE STATES/OF AMERICA/1861-1865 (On left side of stele:) LAURENCE TOMPKINS/SCULPTOR (On back of stele:) ON THIS SPOT/MAY 10, 1865/PRESIDENT JEFFERSON DAVIS/WAS MADE A/PRISONER OF WAR/BY FEDERAL TROOPS/ERECTED BY THE/STATE OF GEORGIA/EUGENE TALMADGE, GOVERNOR/IN THE YEAR 1935/SPONSORED BY MARY V. HENDERSON/CHAPTER AND THE GEORGIA DIVISION/OF THE UNITED DAUGHTERS OF THE/CONFEDERACY/MRS. RALPH H. JOHNSON/CHAIRMAN MEMORIAL/COMMITTEE/MRS. T.W. REED/PRESIDENT GEORGIA/DIVISION/MRS. L.W. GREENE STATE CHM./MARKING HISTORIC GA. signed

A bronze bust of Jefferson Davis, dressed in a vest, jacket and bow tie is mounted at the top of a granite stele adorned with a relief panel on both the front and the back. On the front of the stele the relief shows Jefferson Davis as President of the Confederacy being taken prisoner by federal troops. On the back of the stele the relief shows a landscape scene with a figure on horseback and several other figures amidst trees. The sides of the stele are adorned with carvings of the Confederate flag. The stele is mounted on a short, rectangular base. The sculpture is surrounded by a cast iron fence.

History -- United States -- Civil War

Portrait male -- Davis, Jefferson -- Bust

Occupation -- Political -- Statesman

Figure group -- Male

Occupation -- Military -- Soldier

Dress -- Uniform -- Military Uniform

State of Being -- Other -- Imprisonment

Landscape -- Forest

Outdoor Sculpture -- Georgia -- Irwinville

Located Irwinville, Georgia 31774

Administered by Irwin County, P. O. Box 287, Ocilla, Georgia 31774

The sculpture was installed by the State of Georgia and the Mary V. Henderson Chapter and the Georgia Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The sculpture marks the spot where Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, was taken prisoner by federal troops on May 10, 1865. A plaque in the front in front of the memorial reads: THE REGISTER OF NATIONAL/HISTORIC SITES/MARKED BY/BEN HILL CHAPTER #1137 U.D.C. IAS files contain related excerpts from Ralph W. Widener's "Confederate Monuments: Enduring Symbols of the South and the War Between the States," Washington, D.C.: Andromeda Associates, 1982, pg. 62.; and Isabel Smith Buzzett's "Confederate Monuments of Georgia," Atlanta: Atlanta Chapter No. 18, United Daughters of the Confederacy, 1984, pg. 24.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Georgia survey, 1994.

Widener, Ralph W., "Confederate Monuments: Enduring Symbols of the South and the War Between the States," Washington, D.C.: Andromeda Associates, 1982, pg. 62.

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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