The Stone Mountain Memorial half dollar was an
American fifty-cent piece struck in 1925 at the
Philadelphia Mint
The Philadelphia Mint is a branch of the United States Mint in Philadelphia. It was built in 1792 following the Coinage Act of 1792, in order to establish a national identity and the needs of commerce in the United States, and is the first and ...
. Its main purpose was to raise money on behalf of the Stone Mountain Confederate Monumental Association for the
Stone Mountain Memorial near
Atlanta, Georgia
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 ...
. Designed by sculptor
Gutzon Borglum
John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum (March 25, 1867 – March 6, 1941) was an American sculpture, sculptor best known for his work on Mount Rushmore. He is also associated with various other public works of art across the U.S., including Stone Moun ...
, the coin features a depiction of Confederate generals
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 ...
and
Stonewall Jackson
Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (January 21, 1824 – May 10, 1863) was a Confederate general and military officer who served during the American Civil War. He played a prominent role in nearly all military engagements in the eastern the ...
on the obverse and the caption: "Memorial to the Valor of the Soldier of the South" on the reverse. The piece was also originally intended to be in memory of the recently deceased president,
Warren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he was one of the most ...
, but no mention of him appears on the coin.
In the early 20th century, proposals were made to carve a large sculpture in memory of General Lee on Stone Mountain, a huge rock outcropping. The owners of Stone Mountain agreed to transfer title on condition the work was completed within 12 years. Borglum, who was, like others involved, a
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...
member, was engaged to design the memorial, and proposed expanding it to include a colossal monument depicting Confederate warriors, with Lee, Jackson, and Confederate President
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...
leading them.
The work proved expensive, and the Association advocated the issuance of a commemorative half dollar as a fundraiser for the memorial. Congress approved it, though to appease Northerners, the coin was also made in honor of Harding, under whose administration work had commenced. Borglum designed the coin, which was repeatedly rejected by the
Commission of Fine Arts. All reference to Harding was removed from the design by order of President
Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer from Massachusetts, he previously ...
.
The Association sponsored extensive sales efforts for the coin throughout the South, though these were hurt by the firing of Borglum in 1925, which alienated many of his supporters, including 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 ...
. A 1928 audit of the fundraising showed excessive expenses and misuse of money, and construction halted the same year; a scaled-down sculpture was eventually completed in 1970. Because of the large quantities issued—over a million remain extant—the Stone Mountain Memorial half dollar remains inexpensive compared with other U.S. commemoratives.
Background
The first European-descended settlers inhabited the land around
Stone Mountain, Georgia
Stone Mountain is a city in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The population was 6,703 as of 2020. Stone Mountain is in the eastern part of DeKalb County and is a suburb of Atlanta that encompasses nearly 1.7 square miles. It lies near and ...
, today in the east Atlanta suburbs, around 1790. They called the large outcropping, about long and high, "Rock Mountain". Rev. Adrel Sherwood of
Macon, Georgia
Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. Situated near the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is southeast of Atlanta and near the ...
, first named it Stone Mountain in 1825. The town of New Gibraltar was founded nearby in 1839; its name would be changed to Stone Mountain by the
Georgia Legislature
The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directly ...
in 1947. From about the time 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 mountain was used as a quarry; this would not entirely cease until the 1970s.
John Gutzon de la mothe Borglum (usually called
Gutzon Borglum
John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum (March 25, 1867 – March 6, 1941) was an American sculpture, sculptor best known for his work on Mount Rushmore. He is also associated with various other public works of art across the U.S., including Stone Moun ...
) was born in
Idaho Territory
The Territory of Idaho was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 3, 1863, until July 3, 1890, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as Idaho.
History
1860s
The territory ...
in 1867, to one of several wives of a Dane who had converted to
Mormon
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
ism. As a boy, Borglum lived in various places in the Far West. Turning to art as a career, he attended the
San Francisco Art Academy, the
Académie Julian
The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...
, and the
École des Beaux-Arts
; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...
. Greatly influenced by
Rodin
François Auguste René Rodin (; ; 12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a u ...
, whom he met, Borglum switched from painting to sculpture in 1901. His ''
Mares of Diomedes
The Mares of Diomedes (), also called the Mares of Thrace, were a herd of man-eating horses in Greek mythology. Magnificent, wild, and uncontrollable, they belonged to Diomedes of Thrace (not to be confused with Diomedes, son of Tydeus), kin ...
'' won a gold medal at the 1904
Louisiana Purchase Exposition
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federa ...
in St. Louis, and became the first work of sculpture to be purchased by the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
.
Inception

In 1914, editor John Temple Graves wrote in the ''
Atlanta Georgian
''The Atlanta Georgian'' was an American daily afternoon newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
History
Founded by New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northea ...
'', suggesting the establishment of a memorial to
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 ...
General
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 ...
on Stone Mountain, "from this godlike eminence let our Confederate hero calmly look history and the future in the face!" Others who called for the establishment of a Confederate memorial there included William H. Terrell, an Atlanta attorney who believed that while the North had spent millions of dollars on monuments to the
Union, the South had not sufficiently honored Confederate heroes. Also active in the early days of the Stone Mountain proposal was Helen Plane (1829–1925), who had been a belle from Atlanta before the war, and whose husband had given his life at the
Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam ( ), also called the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the Southern United States, took place during the American Civil War on September 17, 1862, between Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virgi ...
in 1862. She devoted the remainder of her life to preserving the memory of the Southern cause.
The release of the film ''
The Birth of a Nation
''The Birth of a Nation'' is a 1915 American Silent film, silent Epic film, epic Drama (film and television), drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted from Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 novel and ...
'' in 1915 sparked increased interest in the Confederate cause in the South. Plane, who was lifetime honorary president of the Georgia organization of 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 ...
(UDC), asked Borglum to carve the image of General Lee on the mountain. The Stone Mountain project was initially a UDC endeavor. Officials originally contemplated a monument of perhaps by . Putting that on Stone Mountain, Borglum supposedly stated, would be like putting a postage stamp on a barn. He proposed a much larger sculpture, high and long, and drew up plans in his
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford () is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, outside of New York City. It is the sixth-most populous city in New England. Stamford is also the largest city in the Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, Weste ...
, studio. He envisioned a huge depiction of the Confederate army, including artillery and infantry, as well as 65 Confederate generals, five to be nominated by the governor of each Southern state. In 1917, the Stone Mountain Confederate Monumental Association (the Association) was founded to publicize and raise funds for a colossal sculpture at Stone Mountain. Samuel H. Venable and his family, owners of the land, agreed to deed it over for a monument, on condition that if the project was not completed in 12 years, title would revert to them. A formal dedication took place in May 1916; the preliminary work was interrupted by the US entry into
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
in 1917.
Another organization which took an interest in the Stone Mountain work was the recently revived
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...
, of which both Venable and Borglum were members. The Klan, through much of the 20th century, held regular encampments on or near Stone Mountain. Plane, in a 1915 letter to Borglum, stated that the original Klan had saved the South from "Negro domination" in the
Reconstruction era
The Reconstruction era was a period in History of the United States, US history that followed the American Civil War (1861-65) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the Abolitionism in the United States, abol ...
, and suggested that the design include a small group of Klansmen in robes, seen in the distance, approaching.
Beginning in 1920, the project slowly came under the control of Atlanta businessmen, brought in to aid with the massive fundraising, and the UDC became marginalized. The work on the sculpture resumed on June 18, 1923, when Borglum began carving Lee's figure into the mountainside; he planned for General
Stonewall Jackson
Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (January 21, 1824 – May 10, 1863) was a Confederate general and military officer who served during the American Civil War. He played a prominent role in nearly all military engagements in the eastern the ...
and
Confederate President
The president of the Confederate States was the head of state and head of government of the unrecognized breakaway Confederate States. The president was the chief executive of the federal government and commander-in-chief of the Confederate Ar ...
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...
to be close by Lee. Borglum's plans were for a huge sculpture depicting the Confederates, a memorial hall hewn from the granite at the base of the mountain in which artworks and artifacts could be displayed (as well as rolls of honor listing the contributors) and a giant amphitheater nearby. He estimated the total cost at $3.5 million. Instead, the scope of the project was scaled back, though different sources give varying cost estimates and dimensions. Borglum signed a contract to complete the group of Lee, Jackson, and Davis within three years for a cost of $250,000.
The work was expensive and by November 1923, the Association decided to advocate for a commemorative coin which it could buy from the government at face value and sell at a premium as a fundraiser. Two men each sought credit for coming up with the idea for a coin. Daniel W. Webb, executive secretary of the Association, said he had thought of it after finding an
Alabama Centennial half dollar at home; journalist Harry Stillwell Edwards made a similar claim and apparently collected a reward from the Association.

On November 16, 1923, Edwards wrote to Bascom Slemp, secretary to President
Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer from Massachusetts, he previously ...
(the previous president,
Warren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he was one of the most ...
, had recently died). Edwards arranged a meeting between the President and himself, association president Hollins N. Randolph (an Atlanta lawyer and direct descendant of early president
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...
), and Borglum. President Coolidge agreed to support authorizing legislation for a Stone Mountain coin.
Borglum later stated that the Association asked him to write to people in Washington because of his contacts in the Republican Coolidge administration. He wrote to the powerful Republican Massachusetts senator,
Henry Cabot Lodge
Henry Cabot Lodge (May 12, 1850November 9, 1924) was an American politician, historian, lawyer, and statesman from Massachusetts. A member of the History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served in the United States ...
, urging him to support legislation for a Stone Mountain commemorative coin; the appeal apparently worked, as late in 1923 the committee chairmen having jurisdiction over coinage,
Reed Smoot
Reed Smoot (January 10, 1862February 9, 1941) was an American politician, businessman, and apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). A Republican who was first elected to the U.S. Senate by the Utah State Legislat ...
in the Senate and
Louis Thomas McFadden
Louis Thomas McFadden (July 25, 1876 – October 1, 1936) was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, serving from 1915 to 1935. A banker by trade, he was the chief sponsor of the 1927 McFadden Ac ...
in the House of Representatives, introduced legislation for a Stone Mountain Memorial half dollar. McFadden later wrote that he sponsored the legislation because of his friendship with Borglum. With the threat of sectional opposition if the coin only honored the South, the bill's sponsors included language making the new half dollar also in memory of the recently deceased Harding (an Ohioan), during whose presidency the renewed work had begun. The bill passed by
unanimous consent
In parliamentary procedure, unanimous consent, also known as general consent, or in the case of the parliaments under the Westminster system, leave of the house (or leave of the senate), is a situation in which no member present objects to a propo ...
in the House on March 6, 1924, and in the Senate five days later; Coolidge signed it on March 17. The bill authorizing the coin read:
Preparation and design

Borglum was busy between the passage of the bill and the end of May 1924, first working on the Children's Founders Roll medal, and then the half dollar. The Children's Founders Roll was open to white children up to the age of 18 who contributed one dollar to the building of the monument. Borglum must still have been fine-tuning the monument's design; Jackson's posture on the medal differs from that on the coin. Unlike the issued coin, Borglum's models showed the front part of Davis's horse, although the Confederate president is unseen, and marching soldiers appear in the background. Borglum met with Treasury Secretary
Andrew Mellon
Andrew William Mellon (; March 24, 1855 – August 26, 1937), known also as A. W. Mellon, was an American banker, businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector, and politician. The son of Mellon family patriarch Thomas Mellon ...
who questioned first why "
In God We Trust
"In God We Trust" (also rendered as "In God we trust") is the United States national motto, official motto of the United States as well as the motto of the U.S. state of Florida, along with the nation of Nicaragua (Spanish language, Spanish: '' ...
" appeared directly over Lee's head; Borglum responded that it was to pay tribute to the Confederates' faith. Mellon then asked what the thirteen stars on the obverse represented; Borglum replied that those on the north side of the
Mason–Dixon line
The Mason–Dixon line, sometimes referred to as Mason and Dixon's Line, is a demarcation line separating four U.S. states: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia. It was Surveying, surveyed between 1763 and 1767 by Charles Mason ...
could consider them to represent the thirteen original colonies (those south of it, the implication was, could consider them to be a tribute to the Southern states). Mellon laughed and gave preliminary approval. On July 2, Mellon showed the designs to President Coolidge; they were then sent to the
Commission of Fine Arts for its members' opinions.

According to numismatists William D. Hyder and R.W. Colbert, "Borglum, to put it mildly, was a temperamental artist who managed to offend most everyone with whom he worked". They note that "Borglum's past insolence had not left him in the good graces of the art community" and his designs met a hostile reception at the commission. Sculptor member
James Earle Fraser, designer of the
Buffalo nickel
The Buffalo nickel or Indian Head nickel is a copper–nickel five-cent piece that was struck by the United States Mint from 1913 to 1938. It was designed by sculptor James Earle Fraser.
As part of a drive to beautify the coinage, five denomi ...
, rejected Borglum's initial design on July 22, eight days after they were received. The inscription on the reverse included a tribute to Harding; Fraser deemed it inartistic. Borglum submitted a second set on August 14, this was again rejected; the commission criticized the design, which seemed to be only a segment of a larger one, rather than specifically designed to fit a half dollar. Borglum wanted to ignore what he deemed "damn fool suggestions", but the Association threatened to fire him if he did not complete the coin. Borglum was concerned the reverse was still too crowded, and proposed leaving off the eagle, but space was saved when Coolidge did not like the reference to Harding, and it was omitted. With the eagle still in place on the reverse, Fraser finally approved the designs on October 10, 1924. In all, Borglum made nine plaster models for the design.
Even though all necessary approvals had been received, the
Philadelphia Mint
The Philadelphia Mint is a branch of the United States Mint in Philadelphia. It was built in 1792 following the Coinage Act of 1792, in order to establish a national identity and the needs of commerce in the United States, and is the first and ...
refused to proceed with preparations because of the lack of the mention of Harding, which it believed was congressionally mandated. Borglum wired Coolidge on October 31, notifying him of the problem; the President confirmed his approval of the design the following day. Despite the support of the federal government for the coin, the
Grand Army of the Republic
The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (United States Navy, U.S. Navy), and the United States Marine Corps, Marines who served in the American Ci ...
(GAR), an organization of
Union Civil War veterans, tried to prevent the issuance of a coin they believed honored treason by lobbying in late 1924 and early 1925. Work on the sculpture slowed (the head of Jackson was then being carved) because of the sculptor being distracted by designing the coin, flaws in the rock on Stone Mountain, and the fact that the Association had ceased fundraising efforts in anticipation of a campaign to sell the coin. Revenues from the medal were not sufficient to meet expenses.
The obverse of the half dollar depicts Confederate generals Lee and Jackson, the latter with head bare, mounted on horseback. Although both Lee and Jackson were respected in the North, Davis would not have been acceptable on a federal coin, and he was omitted, although he appears on the Children's Founders Roll medal which Borglum adapted for the obverse of the half dollar. There are thirteen stars in the upper field of the obverse; they represent the thirteen states which either joined the Confederacy or had Confederate factions. Borglum's initials, "GB", are found on the extreme right of the piece, near the horses' tails. The reverse depicts an eagle with wings stretched, representative of liberty, perched upon a mountaintop. There are 35 stars in the field, supposedly to represent the number of states at the start of the Civil War, although there were in fact 34 in 1861, and there were 35 states only from 1863 to 1864, between the admissions of West Virginia and Nevada.
Art historian
Cornelius Vermeule
Cornelius Clarkson Vermeule III (August 10, 1925 – November 27, 2008) was an American scholar of ancient art and curator of classical art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from 1957 to 1996. He was also well known as a numismatist. He also ...
, writing in 1971, noted that the half dollar represents an unusual circumstance in American art, where a designer uses a coin as a ''
bozzetto'' or small-scale model of a work to be completed. Vermeule considered the children's medal a better work of art, due to the inclusion of Davis. He believed that Borglum's original design, before its rejection by the Commission of Fine Arts, was superior, as it included a sense of motion through the depiction of marching soldiers in the background, balanced by the inclusion of the head of Davis's horse, though the Confederate president himself is unseen. According to Vermeule, the original design "would have made a magnificent coin, an unusual compression of monumentality and power into a limited and unorthodox historical space".
Production and conflict

The
Medallic Art Company of New York converted Borglum's models to coinage dies. The first 1,000 Stone Mountain Memorial half dollars were struck on a medal press at the
Philadelphia Mint
The Philadelphia Mint is a branch of the United States Mint in Philadelphia. It was built in 1792 following the Coinage Act of 1792, in order to establish a national identity and the needs of commerce in the United States, and is the first and ...
on January 21, 1925, the 101st anniversary of General Jackson's birth; Borglum and officials of the Association were present. The first piece struck was mounted on a plate made of gold mined in Georgia for presentation to President Coolidge. The second was mounted on a silver plaque, and presented to Secretary Mellon. The remainder of the first thousand were placed in numbered envelopes; some were presented to officials or those involved in the Stone Mountain project. Between January and March 1925, that mint struck 2,310,000 of the authorized mintage of 5,000,000, plus 4,709 pieces reserved for inspection by the 1926
Assay Commission. Except for the first thousand, for which Randolph paid in gold, the pieces were sent to the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta, which advanced the funds to purchase them from the government.
Although the Association unveiled the completed head of Lee on January 19, 1924 (the general's birthday), within months, its relations with Borglum had become strained. Technical problems over the medal and the work on the mountain caused tensions, and political differences between Borglum, a Republican, and Randolph, an active Democrat, led to poor relations between the two. Borglum, Venable, and Randolph backed different KKK members for national leadership. Both Borglum and the Association accused each other of graft; the sculptor proposed that he form a syndicate to purchase the half dollars from the Mint and sell them with the profits to be applied directly to construction costs. Randolph ridiculed the suggestion, stating that it would allow Borglum to carve "whatever he pleased on the mountain". Borglum accused Randolph of using donations for his own benefit, and spending freely on an expense account. These dissensions became public, and in February 1925, the Association fired Borglum. Randolph stated, as one reason for dismissing the sculptor, that Borglum had taken seven months to design the coin, when, he said, any competent artist could have done it in three weeks. He accused Borglum of delaying so that the Association would be embarrassed. According to Freeman, "despite all the points of conflict between Borglum and the committee, it was actually the commemorative coin that ended his career at Stone Mountain."
Upon being dismissed, Borglum wrecked his models for the monument; the Association sought to have him jailed for destruction of property. Borglum was addressing the ladies of the Atlanta chapter of the UDC when his assistant, Jesse Tucker, burst in and hurried him out the door with a minimum of explanation, only moments before a sheriff's deputy arrived to serve the warrant. He left the state, but was arrested in
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...
, though quickly allowed bail, and the Association abandoned extradition proceedings.
[(subscription required)] Freed, the sculptor soon took up a project in South Dakota,
Mount Rushmore
The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a National Memorial (United States), national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore (, or Six Grandfathers) in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dak ...
. The publicity surrounding these events hurt the Association's fundraising, as did allegations that the Association had misused hundreds of thousands of dollars put aside for the project.
Marketing and distribution
The Association hired
Augustus H. Lukeman as replacement sculptor; all of Borglum's work was eventually blasted away. Despite the dispute with Borglum, the Association proceeded to market the half dollars; it hired New York publicist Harvey Hill to run the campaign. The Association hoped for the opportunity to present the first coin to President Coolidge in person as a means of overcoming the bad publicity; White House officials warily declined, writing that "no good purpose would be served by a formal presentation". The half dollars were officially released on July 3, 1925 (though some were displayed as early as May); they were sold at a price of one dollar. They were sent to 3,000 banks by the Federal Reserve, with the proceeds from sales credited to the Association. White Southerners applauded the piece as symbolizing sectional reconciliation, the federal government paying homage to the South's Confederate heritage.
The coins were to be distributed through banks, and the Federal Reserve System cooperated by moving coins as needed, though at the Association's expense. The Association set up local affiliates, with organizations throughout the South, as well as Oklahoma and the District of Columbia. Each state's governor served as nominal head of the organization within his jurisdiction; on July 20, 1925, at a meeting of the
Conference of Southern Governors called for the purpose, they (or their representatives) resolved that the Association allocate sales quotas among the states on the "basis of white population and bank deposits". The pieces were to be sold at the price of one dollar, and local organizations were to generate promotions for selling them. The overall drive to sell half dollars was dubbed the "Harvest Campaign" and began with the governors' meeting in July 1925. Georgia Governor
Clifford Walker told his colleagues that the "South would be eternally disgraced if it failed to accept the challenge" of meeting the sales goal of 2,500,000 coins; nevertheless, the governors devoted little time to the campaign.
Although volunteer enthusiasm was essential to the Association's plans in the Harvest Campaign, it did not rely on it at the higher levels; the state chairs were compensated, both by salary and commission. J.W. Gibbes, clerk of the
South Carolina House of Representatives
The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly. It consists of 124 representatives elected to two-year terms at the same time as U.S. congressional elections.
Unlike many legislatures, seatin ...
, was hired as that state's executive director; he undertook to sell 100,000 coins and received just under $3,500 in salary and commissions, all paid in 1926. Local volunteers organized Chamber of Commerce luncheons to sell coins throughout the South; chapters of the UDC purchased pieces to present to surviving Civil War veterans. The quota for Florida was 175,000 coins, with each town and city apportioned its share. Often,
Kiwanis
Kiwanis International ( ) is an international service club founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. It is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, and is found in more than 80 nations and geographic areas. In 1987, the organization ...
or
Rotary groups underwrote local quotas. Mrs. N. Burton Bass of Atlanta was reported to be the leading seller, once disposing of 233 coins in an afternoon. A series of dance balls honored the UDC members who sold large numbers of pieces. Nevertheless, Hyder and Colbert suggested that there was "a general lack of more ladies such as Mrs. Bass"; many municipalities had trouble finding local chairs. Outside the South, sales were promoted by three professional publicists hired by the Association. To keep public interest high, the Association released Lukeman's conceptions for Stone Mountain, which were on a smaller scale than Borglum's. Lukeman conceived a scaled-down concept, of the three Confederate leaders on horseback. Despite the campaign, sales were slower than expected. In late 1925, the Association offered Northern banks a commission of seven cents a coin; it is uncertain if any took up the offer. The continuing opposition of the GAR to the coins dampened sales in the North, and there was considerable criticism of the coin issue in newspapers.

One means of fundraising that Harvest Campaign administrators decided on was to
counterstamp some of the coins for sale at premium prices. The letters and numbers are believed to have been punched by the Association, as they are almost entirely uniform. Some were given a state abbreviation and a number, and were sent to be auctioned in various towns. Gibbes reported that the counterstamped pieces sent to South Carolina sold for an average of $23, ranging from $10 to $110, and recommended that the auctions be preceded with the account of the sale of one in
Bradenton, Florida
Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698, up from 49,546 at the 2010 census. It is a pri ...
, for $1,300. Which town got which number was the luck of the draw. Others were marked with "U.D.C." and a state abbreviation, together with a number which probably represents a membership or chapter number. These were intended for presentation to members deserving of special honor, such as an outgoing president. They did not sell well, as the Association had alienated many UDC members over the firing of Borglum. The Association also announced a program for sale to the
Sons of Confederate Veterans
The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is an American neo-Confederate nonprofit organization of male descendants of Confederate soldiers that commemorates these ancestors, funds and dedicates monuments to them, and promotes the pseudohisto ...
, although whether any coins were sold under this program is unclear, as none have been identified. Pieces marked "G.L." and "S.L." were puzzled over by collectors for many years; A. Steve Deitert in the January 2011 edition of ''The Numismatist'' identified the markings as "Gold Lavalier" and "Silver Lavalier". These coins were given to county winners and runners-up in a selling competition for young women.
The Association sold coins through other means. They asked companies to purchase them: the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the oldest railroad in the United States and the first steam-operated common carrier. Construction of the line began in 1828, and it operated as B&O from 1830 until 1987, when it was merged into the Chessie ...
&O the
Southern Fireman's Fund Insurance Company, the
Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in 1892. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages. Its stock is lis ...
, and a number of banks, purchased thousands of pieces, many of which were given away as promotions. Those outside the South could obtain coins by orders passed through local banks. A bank in St. Louis gave away the half dollars to those who opened an account with at least $5; the B&O used them in making change.
The Association called an end to the Harvest Campaign as of March 31, 1926, most likely because the sales did not justify the continued salary expenses. Coins remaining at banks were to be sent to the Federal Reserve, and any credit balances remitted to the Association. Thereafter, coins were available either through the Association or the Federal Reserve at an increased price of $2. With a price increase and the end to the campaign, sales plummeted. Total sales from the Harvest Campaign were about 430,000 pieces. One exception to the drop in sales was a drive in New York under the sponsorship of Mayor
Jimmy Walker
James John Walker (June 19, 1881November 18, 1946), known colloquially as Jimmy Walker and Beau James, was an American attorney, lyricist, and Democratic Party politician who served as the 97th mayor of New York City from 1926 until his resign ...
, which succeeded in selling 250,000 coins in 1926, though at the original price of one dollar.
Bernard Baruch
Bernard Mannes Baruch (August 19, 1870 – June 20, 1965) was an American financier and statesman.
After amassing a fortune on the New York Stock Exchange, he impressed President Woodrow Wilson by managing the nation's economic mobilization in W ...
, then a prominent investor and later a counselor of presidents, was honorary chairman of the organizing committee, and personally subscribed for some of the pieces.
Aftermath

The Atlanta chapter of the UDC in 1927 published a brochure accusing the Association of wrongfully firing Borglum and wasting between a quarter and a half million dollars. An audit of the Association's books was performed in 1928; the examiners found its records in good order, excepting those regarding the Harvest Campaign, which were inadequate. The audit found that for every three dollars of revenue brought in from the half dollars, two were paid out in expenses, a ratio Hyder and Colbert called "incredible". Of the total sum raised by the Association, only 27 cents of each dollar went to the carving. Venable stated that the Stone Mountain monument had "developed into the most colossal failure in history".
The Association was discredited by the results of the audit; the Georgia Senate voted to accuse it of gross mismanagement of funds. Randolph resigned when Venable made it clear he would not negotiate an extension of the twelve-year deadline unless he did. The Atlanta lawyer had begun a political career; the scandal finished it. With funds drying up, the Association stopped work on Stone Mountain on May 31, 1928, and when negotiations failed, the Venable family successfully sued to regain the property. Borglum was now a folk hero in Atlanta; he was called upon to return to Stone Mountain in the early 1930s, but busy with Mount Rushmore, he did not. At the time of Borglum's death in 1941, no work was being done on Stone Mountain. The State of Georgia voted funds to purchase Stone Mountain in 1958 and five years later selected
Walker Kirkland Hancock as architect. The sculpture, which depicts Lee, Jackson and Davis, and bears only a resemblance to Borglum's original design, was dedicated in 1970. At by , it is the largest relief sculpture in the world.
In 1930, Secretary Mellon reported that although no Stone Mountain Memorial half dollars were held by the Mint, it was his understanding that large quantities of the piece were in the possession of banks. Eventually, arrangements were made to return a million half dollars to the Mint for melting. In spite of this, the State of Georgia still had Stone Mountain half dollars for sale at its exhibit at the 1933
Century of Progress Exposition
A Century of Progress International Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, from 1933 to 1934. The fair, registered under the Bureau International des Exposit ...
. Many more were dumped into circulation in the 1930s. A quantity of half dollars once owned by Baruch were sold for $3.25 each through a Georgia bank in the 1950s to finance a building in honor of Baruch's mother, a Southerner, in
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...
. A total of 1,314,709 Stone Mountain Memorial half dollars were distributed, after deducting those pieces melted.
Due to the large quantities extant, Stone Mountain Memorial half dollars remain inexpensive in comparison with other commemoratives. The 2014 edition of ''
A Guide Book of United States Coins
''A Guide Book of United States Coins (The Official Red Book)'', first compiled by R. S. Yeoman in 1946, is a price guide for coin collectors of coins of the United States dollar, commonly known as the Red Book.
Along with its sister public ...
'' lists the piece at $65 in Almost Uncirculated condition (AU-50) with pieces in near-pristine MS-66 at $335.
See also
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Early United States commemorative coins
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Half dollar (United States coin)
The half dollar, sometimes referred to as the half for short or 50-cent piece, is a United States coin worth 50 cents, or one half of a dollar. In both size and weight, it is the largest circulating coin currently minted in the United States, ...
Notes and references
Notes
References and bibliography
Books
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Other sources
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{{Portal bar, Georgia (U.S. state), Numismatics, , United States, Money
1925 establishments in the United States
Eagles on coins
Currencies introduced in 1925
Early United States commemorative coins
Fifty-cent coins of the United States
Horses in art
Sculptures by Gutzon Borglum
United States silver coins
Stone Mountain