The John Hunt Morgan Memorial in Lexington, Kentucky, is a

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

created during the

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

era, as a tribute to

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

General

John Hunt Morgan John Hunt Morgan (June 1, 1825 – September 4, 1864) was an American soldier who served as a Confederate general in the American Civil War of 1861–1865. In April 1862, Morgan raised the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry Regiment (CSA) and fought in t ...

, who was from Lexington and is buried in

Lexington Cemetery Lexington Cemetery is a private, non-profit rural cemetery and arboretum located at 833 W. Main Street, Lexington, Kentucky. The Lexington Cemetery was established in 1848 as a place of beauty and a public cemetery, in part to deal ...

. The monument was originally situated on the Courthouse Lawn at the junction of North Upper and East Main Street, but was moved to Lexington Cemetery in 2018. With the help of the state government of

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, the

United Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, ...

erected the monument on October 18, 1911 on what was then the courthouse lawn. The

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...

was cast in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, at a cost of $15,000. The state of Kentucky contributed $7,500 of the cost because the UDC was unable to raise all of the funds promised. The ceremony included a parade of 400 veterans. The pedestal is of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

. The monument was dedicated by Morgan's brother-in-law

Basil W. Duke Basil Wilson Duke (May 28, 1838 – September 16, 1916) was a Confederate States Army, Confederate general officer during the American Civil War. His most noted service in the war was as second-in-command for his brother-in-law John Hunt Mo ...

, master of ceremonies, and keynote speaker Dr. Guy Carleton Lee, a third cousin of

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...

. Also in attendance were John Castleman, and Morgan's brothers Charlton and Dick. At the ceremony, the Rev. Edward O. Guerrant, who had served with General Morgan, gave the prayer of dedication, saying: Of the monuments of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

in Kentucky, it is the only one with a soldier on horseback. Morgan Lexington statue behind

Morgan's horse, Black Bess, was a

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four ...

, but sculptor

Pompeo Coppini Pompeo Luigi Coppini (19 May 1870 – 26 September 1957) was an Italian born sculptor who emigrated to the United States. Although his works can be found in Italy, Mexico and a number of U.S. states, the majority of his work can be found in T ...

thought a

stallion A stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded (castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" nec ...

was more appropriate. Coppini said, "No hero should bestride a mare!". Therefore, Coppini added the necessary

testicle A testicle or testis (plural testes) is the male reproductive gland or gonad in all bilaterians, including humans. It is homologous to the female ovary. The functions of the testes are to produce both sperm and androgens, primarily testostero ...

s. Undergraduates from nearby

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

have been known to paint the testicles of the horse in the school colors of blue and white. An anonymous author wrote the "Ballad of Black Bess", which ended with: The memorial was one of 60 different Civil War properties in Kentucky placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on the same day, July 17, 1997. Three other properties listed that day are also located in Lexington: the

John C. Breckinridge Memorial The John C. Breckinridge Memorial, originally on the courthouse lawn of Lexington, Kentucky, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 17, 1997, as part of the List of Civil War Monuments of Kentucky, Civil War Monuments of Ken ...

, which is on the other side of the same block as the Morgan Memorial, and the Confederate Soldier Monument in Lexington and the Ladies' Confederate Memorial, both in nearby

Removal from original site

In November 2015, a committee, the Urban County Arts Review Board, voted to recommend removal of the Morgan and Breckinridge memorials. After receiving pressure from local grassroots organizing, Mayor Jim Gray re-announced plans to relocate the memorial to Veterans Park in south Lexington. The monuments were removed October 17, 2017. By July 2018, both the Morgan and Breckinridge memorials had been relocated to

, where both men are buried.

References

{{Pompeo Coppini 1911 establishments in Kentucky 1911 sculptures Bronze sculptures in Kentucky Buildings and structures in Lexington, Kentucky Civil War Monuments of Kentucky MPS Equestrian statues in Kentucky Lexington in the American Civil War National Register of Historic Places in Lexington, Kentucky Outdoor sculptures in Kentucky Sculptures by Pompeo Coppini Sculptures of men in Kentucky Relocated buildings and structures in Kentucky United Daughters of the Confederacy monuments and memorials in Kentucky

Removal from original site

See also

References