Researching Confederate Monuments in North Carolina: General Information
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Books
North Carolina Civil War Monuments by ISBN: 9780786468560Publication Date: 2013-04-30Through much of recorded history, monuments of stone and metal have honored victorious armies and successful leaders. Following the American Civil War this commemorative tradition expanded to include soldiers of the defeated Confederacy. By the early twentieth century, memorials to the Southern dead and surviving veterans were regional icons, and men of the Confederate army ranked among history's most commemorated troops. This illustrated history details one state's commemorative response to a war in which more than 30,000 of its soldiers died in military service: 101 Confederate monuments - and eight Union memorials, including one honoring African American troops - were dedicated across the Tarheel State between 1865 and the Civil War centennial in 1961. The location, design, funding and dedication of these memorials reveal a society's evolving grief and the forging of public memory. Committee minutes, financial records, legal documents, and contemporaneous accounts are quoted, highlighting the challenging and often contentious process through which these monuments were realised. Manufacturers' catalogs and advertisements, as well as spirited editorial exchanges in newspapers and magazines, provide further insight into the sculptural, technological and cultural milieu in which these North Carolina monuments were raised.
Remembering North Carolina's Confederates by ISBN: 0738542970Publication Date: 2006-09-13The American Civil War was scarcely over when a group of ladies met in Raleigh and began to plan commemoration for the honored Confederate dead of North Carolina. In 1867, they held their first memorial service. Two years later in Fayetteville, the first monument to the state's fallen Confederate soldiers was erected. Over the next 14 decades, countless monuments were commissioned in cemeteries and courthouse squares across the state. Following Reconstruction, the veterans themselves began to gather in their local communities, and state and national reunions were held. For many of the Confederate veterans, honor for their previous service continued long after their deaths: accounts of their sacrifice were often chiseled on their grave markers. The images within this book--photographs of veterans and reunions, monuments, and tombstones--are but a sampling of the many ways that the old Confederate soldiers are commemorated across the Old North State.
North Carolina's Confederate monuments and memorials by Call Number: C970.76 S65nPublication Date: 1941- Historic southern monuments; representative memorials of the heroic dead of the southern Confederacy, by Call Number: C970.76 E53hPublication Date: 1911
The Memory of the Civil War in American Culture by ISBN: 0807829072Publication Date: 2004-10-25The Civil War retains a powerful hold on the American imagination, with each generation since 1865 reassessing its meaning and importance in American life. This volume collects twelve essays by leading Civil War scholars who demonstrate how the meanings of the Civil War have changed over time. The essays move among a variety of cultural and political arenas--from public monuments to parades to political campaigns; from soldiers' memoirs to textbook publishing to children's literature--in order to reveal important changes in how the memory of the Civil War has been employed in American life. Setting the politics of Civil War memory within a wide social and cultural landscape, this volume recovers not only the meanings of the war in various eras, but also the specific processes by which those meanings have been created. By recounting the battles over the memory of the war during the last 140 years, the contributors offer important insights about our identities as individuals and as a nation. Contributors: David W. Blight, Yale University Thomas J. Brown, University of South Carolina Alice Fahs, University of California, Irvine Gary W. Gallagher, University of Virginia J. Matthew Gallman, University of Florida Patrick J. Kelly, University of Texas, San Antonio Stuart McConnell, Pitzer College James M. McPherson, Princeton University Joan Waugh, University of California, Los Angeles LeeAnn Whites, University of Missouri Jon Wiener, University of California, Irvine
Where These Memories Grow by ISBN: 0807825727Publication Date: 2000-10-02Southerners are known for their strong sense of history. But the kinds of memories southerners have valued--and the ways in which they have preserved, transmitted, and revitalized those memories--have been as varied as the region's inhabitants themselves. This collection presents fresh and innovative perspectives on how southerners across two centuries and from Texas to North Carolina have interpreted their past. Thirteen contributors explore the workings of historical memory among groups as diverse as white artisans in early-nineteenth-century Georgia, African American authors in the late nineteenth century, and Louisiana Cajuns in the twentieth century. In the process, they offer critical insights for understanding the many communities that make up the American South. As ongoing controversies over the Confederate flag, the Alamo, and depictions of slavery at historic sites demonstrate, southern history retains the power to stir debate. By placing these and other conflicts over the recalled past into historical context, this collection will deepen our understanding of the continuing significance of history and memory for southern regional identity. Contributors: Bruce E. Baker Catherine W. Bishir David W. Blight Holly Beachley Brear W. Fitzhugh Brundage Kathleen Clark Michele Gillespie John Howard Gregg D. Kimball Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp C. Brenden Martin Anne Sarah Rubin Stephanie E. Yuhl
Newspapers and Media Resources
Newspapers
Newspapers, both state papers and national level, are invaluable for research on this topic. North Carolina newspapers can be accessed in person at UNC's Wilson Library. UNC affiliates can also access newspapers via databases - please see the "Databases" tab in the North Carolina subject research guide.
Two sites provide public access to North Carolina newspapers: the Digital Heritage Center and Chronicling America.
WUNC's North Carolina Voices: Civil War
This NC Voices series examined how the Civil War affects people in North Carolina 150 years after the start of the war. WUNC looked at the legacy of the war and how we remember it and how it shapes our identity as Southerners.
Articles
Bishir, Catherine W. "Building a Southern Past, 1885-1915." Southern Cultures Inaugural Issue (1993). Available online
Crow, Amy. "In Memory of the Confederate Dead": Masculinity and the Politics of Memorial Work in Goldsboro, North Carolina, 1894-1895.” The North Carolina Historical Review 83 (January 2006): 31-60. North Carolina Collection: Cp970 N87hi v. 83 no. 1
Vincent, Tom. "'Evidence of Womans Loyalty, Perseverance, and Fidelity': Confederate Soldiers' Monuments in North Carolina, 1865-1914." The North Carolina Historical Review 83 Issue: 1. 61-90. North Carolina Collection: Cp970 N87hi v. 83 no. 1
Wahlers, Kasi E. "North Carolina's Heritage Protection Act: cementing Confederate monuments in North Carolina's landscape." North Carolina Law Review 94.6 (Sept. 2016): p2176. Available via UNC database access and physical holdings.
The Commemorative Landscapes site compiles a selection of essays on the subjects of memorialization and commemoration.
UNC Theses and Dissertations
- The Re-construction of Memory and Loyalty in North Carolina, 1865-1880 byPublication Date: 2014
- Mourning Again in America: Memorial Day, Monuments, and the Politics of Remembrance byPublication Date: 2017
- Confederate memory and the making of the solid South in North Carolina : the Goldsboro Rifles' Bentonville Monument, 1894-1895 byCall Number: C378 UO2 2002 CROW, A.B.Publication Date: 2002
Surveys
North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources Civil War Monuments Survey
"Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina" documents the state's history through a spatially based presentation of ommemorative monuments, shrines, and public art. This digital collection enables users to visualize and analyze the historical memory of the state of North Carolina by viewing famous and little known sites of memory on modern and historic maps. Sites are linked to a wide variety of resources - postcards, photographs, printed publications, newspapers clippings, and manuscript materials - that reveal when, how, and where North Carolinians have commemorated their past. The collection also encourages users to reflect on what parts of their history North Carolinians have elected not to commemorate as well as how the commemorative landscape of the state is likely to change in the future.
Interpretation Guides
The following resources can further inform the interpretation of Confederate monuments and the debate surrounding them:
Charlottesville Syllabus (UVAGSC)
Historians on the Confederate Monument Debate (AHA)
Confederate Monument Interpretation Guide (Atlanta History Center)
Reconsideration of Memorials and Monuments (AASLH article)
North Carolina Historic Sites
A group of 27 historic sites, including Civil War battlefields.
North Carolina Historical Commission
Founded in 1903, the North Carolina Historical Commission is an 11-member board of professional historians and interested citizens appointed by the Governor in staggered terms. It is the third oldest state historical agency in the nation. This commission oversees the North Carolina Office of Archives and History which is located within the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, and it is charged with setting policy for the state’s identification, collection, management, preservation, interpretation and programming related to manuscripts and other records, historical and archaeological artifacts, and historic sites and properties held by most institutions located within the department.
The North Carolina Historical Commission is the appeals body for the North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program, provides advice and guidance to the state’s National Register Advisory Committee, and performs review and approval for new monuments located on state property. The North Carolina Historical Commission meets two to four times per year. The Deputy Secretary of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources serves as the Secretary of the commission.
The commission's governing policy.
Material generated by the North Carolina Civil War Tourism Council, Inc.