The Confederate Private Monument is a

bronze sculpture Bronze is the most popular metal for Casting (metalworking), cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as w ...

of a private of the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

in Centennial Park,

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, United States. Designed by

George Julian Zolnay George Julian Zolnay (Gyula Zsolnay) (July 4, 1863 – May 1, 1949) was a Romanian, Hungarian, and American sculptor called the "sculptor of the Confederate States of America, Confederacy". Early years Zolnay was born on July 4, 1863,Enc.Am. p. ...

, it was commissioned by the Frank Cheatham Bivouac of the

United Confederate Veterans The United Confederate Veterans (UCV, or simply Confederate Veterans) was an American Civil War veterans' organization headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was organized on June 10, 1889, by ex-soldiers and sailors of the Confederate Sta ...

in 1903, laid with Masonic honors in 1907, and dedicated in 1909. It was vandalized in June 2019.

Description

The monument consists of a statue of a Confederate private in a

uniform A uniform is a variety of costume worn by members of an organization while usually participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency serv ...

with a rifle. According to the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

, the private is

Sam Davis Sam Davis (October 6, 1842 – November 27, 1863) was a Confederate soldier executed by Union forces in Pulaski, Tennessee as a spy, during the American Civil War. He is popularly known as the ''Boy Hero of the Confederacy'', although he was 21 ...

(although newspaper articles published at the time do not mention him). The Smithsonian adds, "The butt of the rifle rests on the rocky stone ledge on which Davis is seated. He faces forward with his proper left hand resting between his knees. Davis is seated on a rough-cut stone atop a tapering base." The monument includes a plaque with the names of 540 members of the Frank Cheatham Bivouac.

History

Theodore Cooley, a member of the Frank Cheatham Bivouac of the

, suggested commissioning a monument in 1902. By 1903, he assembled a group of Confederate veterans to work on the project, and they hired sculptor

, who had designed many other Confederate sculptures, to do it. When Cooley died, Major B. M. Hord became the chairman of the committee. The monument cost $4,000 to build. Zolnay donated $500; the Frank Cheatham Bivouac of the United Confederate Veterans raised $1000, 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, a ...

raised more than $1,000, and the rest was covered by smaller donors. By 1907, the cornerstone was "laid with Masonic honors by the Grand Lodge of the State." The monument also includes a plaque with the names of 540 members of the Frank Cheatham Bivouac. The monument was dedicated in Centennial Park on June 19, 1909. Henry Watterson gave a speech that celebrated Tennessee for having the courage to leave the Union and stated "Greece had its Marathon; let Shiloh, Murfreesboro and Chichamauga tell the story of Tennessee." Zolnay gave a speech in front of the crowd highlighting that his wife was a Southerner, and Judge S. F. Wilson gave another speech about the fighting spirit of the private soldier in the CSA. It was "unveiled in the presence of an immense crowd of people," to the sound of "

Dixie Dixie, also known as Dixieland or Dixie's Land, is a nickname for all or part of the Southern United States. While there is no official definition of this region (and the included areas have shifted over the years), or the extent of the area i ...

". In a speech,

Henry Watterson Henry Watterson (February 16, 1840 – December 22, 1921), the son of a U.S. Congressman from Tennessee, became a prominent journalist in Louisville, Kentucky, as well as a Confederate soldier, author and partial term U.S. Congressman. A Demo ...

combined a veneration of Southern glory with a consecration of the dead to the reconciliation of the living. Although he emphasized divine will, he differed from other United Confederate Veteran speakers in that he depicted God sacrificing the men of both sections to a new Union. Through veneration of things memorable, magnificent, and courageous, he aroused feelings of pride, patriotism, and loyalty to the new Union. In appealing to things memorable, he transferred elements of the

Gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the second century AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message was reported. In this sen ...

to Southern history to heighten the sense of divine destiny in reconciliation. He recounted the magnificence and courage of Tennesseans to highlight their conduct in war and their conciliatory spirit in peace.

Vandalism

The statue was vandalized with red paint on June 17, 2019. The vandal(s) also painted "THEY WERE RACISTS" on the plaque with the names of the 540 Confederate veterans.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Confederate Private Monument 1909 establishments in Tennessee 1909 sculptures Bronze sculptures in Tennessee Buildings and structures in Nashville, Tennessee Confederate States of America monuments and memorials in Tennessee Monuments and memorials in Tennessee Outdoor sculptures in Tennessee Sculptures of men in Tennessee Statues in Tennessee Vandalized works of art in Tennessee