Tennessee Confederate Women's Monument

Tennessee Confederate Women's Monument
Artist Belle Kinney Scholz
Completion date 1926
Location Nashville, Tennessee, United States

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, U.S..

Background

The monument was first suggested by Sumner Archibald Cunningham, the editor of Confederate Veteran, in 1894.[1] However, once the design had been drawn, he objected to it, opining that it failed to convey "the divine qualities of southern womanhood."[1]

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.[1]

Fundraising came from the Sons of Confederate Veterans.[1]

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,[2] 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[3]

Dedication

The dedication, held on October 10, 1926, took place inside the War Memorial Auditorium due to a downpour.[3] 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.[2][3] Reverend James I. Vance, the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, "delivered the invocation."[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Simpson, John A. (2003). Edith D. Pope and Her Nashville Friends: Guardians of the Lost Cause in the Confederate Veteran. Knoxville, Tennessee: University of Tennessee Press. pp. 99–101. ISBN 9781572332119. OCLC 428118511.
  2. 1 2 "Monument Erected to Confederate Women Dedicated in Nashville". The Kingsport Times. Kingsport, Tennessee. October 14, 1926. p. 6. Retrieved September 21, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. (Registration required (help)).
  3. 1 2 3 Woolley Smith, Suzanne (1997). "THE TENNESSEE MONUMENT TO THE WOMEN OF THE CONFEDERACY: A STUDY IN CONFLICTING IDEAS OF PUBLIC COMMEMORATION AND COLLECTIVE MEMORY, 1895-1926". Border States: Journal of the Kentucky-Tennessee American Studies Association. 11. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.