The Confederate Obelisk is a large Confederate monument located in the Oakland Cemetery of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The structure, a tall

obelisk An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...

located in the cemetery's Confederate section, was dedicated in 1874. Due to its connection to the Confederate States of America, the monument has been vandalized repeatedly.

History

Background and dedication

Oakland Cemetery in

is one of the largest and oldest

cemeteries A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many dead people are buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ) implies th ...

in the city. Over 6,900

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

soldiers are buried in the cemetery, many of whom had died during the Atlanta campaign of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. The monument's

was commissioned by the Atlanta

Ladies' Memorial Association A Ladies' Memorial Association (LMA) is a type of organization for women that sprang up all over the American South in the years after the American Civil War. Typically, these were organizations by and for women, whose goal was to raise monuments ...

(ALMA), who later commissioned another Confederate monument in the cemetery, the ''Lion of the Confederacy'' sculpture. The

cornerstone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

for the monument was laid on October 15, 1870, on the day of

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...

funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

, with

John Brown Gordon John Brown Gordon () was an American politician, Confederate States Army general, attorney, slaveowner and planter. "One of Robert E. Lee's most trusted generals" by the end of the Civil War according to historian Ed Bearss, he strongly oppos ...

, a Confederate general and later

Governor of Georgia The governor of Georgia is the head of government of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the commander-in-chief of the state's Georgia National Guard, National Guard, when not in federal service, and Georgia State Defense Force, State Defense Fo ...

, serving as a speaker at the event. In the cornerstone, the ALMA placed an image of Lee, an 1862

Confederate flag The flags of the Confederate States of America have a history of three successive designs during the American Civil War. The flags were known as the "Stars and Bars", used from 1861 to 1863; the "Stainless Banner", used from 1863 to 1865; and ...

Confederate money The Confederate States dollar was first issued just before the outbreak of the American Civil War by the newly formed Confederate States of America, Confederacy. It was not backed by hard assets, but simply by a promise to pay the bearer after th ...

and stamps, a bullet, two gloves, and a roster of the ALMA. The monument cost $8,000 to build, with

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, 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 coo ...

donated by the

Stone Mountain Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome Inselberg, monadnock and the site of Stone Mountain Park, east of Atlanta, Georgia. Outside the park is the city of Stone Mountain, Georgia. The park is the most visited tourist site in the state of Ge ...

Granite Company and

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

tablets designed and donated by a local marble merchant. The monument was dedicated on April 26, 1874, on

Confederate Memorial Day Confederate Memorial Day (called Confederate Heroes Day in Texas and Florida, and Confederate Decoration Day in Tennessee) is a holiday observed in several Southern U.S. states on various dates since the end of the American Civil War. The holi ...

. Librarian and archivist Ruth Blair, speaking in 1939, called the structure Atlanta's first monument. At the time of its dedication, the tall obelisk stood as the tallest structure in the city, a record it would hold for several years. The ceremony, which started at noon, featured several former Confederate officials as speakers and Confederate veterans as attendees, included a parade and other festivities. The monument would in later years come to be a focal point for annual Confederate Memorial Day celebrations. It currently remains the tallest structure in the cemetery.

Recent controversy

In 2017, following the

Unite the Right rally The Unite the Right rally was a White supremacy#United States, white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017. Marchers included members of the alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, whi ...

, Atlanta Mayor

Kasim Reed Mohammed Kasim Reed (born June 10, 1969) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 59th List of mayors of Atlanta, mayor of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia's state capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), ...

organized a committee to assess the Confederate monuments in the city and provide feedback on possible actions to be taken. Georgia state law prohibits the removal of such monuments and so the

city government A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

began to work with the

Atlanta History Center The Atlanta History Center is a history museum and research center located in the Buckhead (Atlanta), Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The Museum was founded in 1926, and has a large campus featuring historic gardens a ...

to create "contextual markers" that would add historical context to the monuments. The Confederate Obelisk was one of several monuments chosen to have markers added to them, which also included the ''Lion'' sculpture and the

Peace Monument The Peace Monument, also known as the Navy Monument, Naval Monument or Navy-Peace Monument, stands on the western edge of the United States Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C. It is in the middle of Peace Circle, where First Street and Pennsy ...

Piedmont Park Piedmont Park is an urban forest and park in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, located about northeast of Downtown, between the Midtown and Virginia Highland neighborhoods. Originally the land was owned by Dr. Benjamin Walker, who used it as ...

. Speaking about the markers, one of the executive directors for the Historic Oakland Foundation said, "We want to say these things have different meanings. Depending on the era and time, it can mean different things to different people." These markers were added to the obelisk in August 2019. Following the installation of these markers, the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

criticized them, with the president of the Atlanta branch calling them "a profound disappointment" and that they "don't counter the notion of

white supremacy White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...

." During the

George Floyd protests in Georgia A series of George Floyd protests took place in Georgia, United States, following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. 11 consecutive days of protests and rallies occurred in Atlanta through June 8, 2020. Through July 2020, protests occurred in ...

, the obelisk and ''Lion'' were vandalized on the night of May 28, 2020. The monuments were subsequently vandalized on several separate occasions throughout May and June 2020.

Design

The monument is a large granite obelisk that features marble tablets affixed near the base. An inscription on the obelisk reads "OUR CONFEDERATE DEAD".

References

External links