In the summer of 2020, following the police murder of George Floyd, Augusta, Georgia Mayor Hardie Davis created the Task Force on Confederate Monuments, Street Names and Landmarks.
Thank you for this excellent article about the Augusta Confederate monument. Unlike most of the monuments erected during the “Redemption” period, this one is unique as the statues were of real people and not mass produced. The bulk of the monuments featured a generic infantry soldier and were produced in the north and sold for $400. They dot the Southern landscape. The people are interesting for what they represent. Lee and Jackson have no connection to Georgia, but are two thirds of the trinity of major “saints” of the Lost Cause Myth, the third being Jefferson Davis. Davis and Howell Cobb despised each other. Cobb was a leading secessionist, and opposed Davis in the vote to become President of the Confederate States. Cobb entered the Confederate Army, eventually becoming a Major General. He stridently opposed Lee’s last minute support of a move to enlist Black soldiers in February and March of 1865. He was an opponent of Reconstruction and died on a speaking tour while in New York in 1868. Prior to the war he was a long term member of the House of Representatives, and Speaker of the House. His portrait was removed from public display in the House in 2020. Walker, a Georgian, was like Lee on active duty in the U.S. Army and resigned his commission at the beginning of the war. He opposed and exposed General Patrick Cleburne’s plan to emancipate Slaves and allow them to serve in the military in early 1864. He was killed in the Atlanta campaign. I cover the latter in my book, “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: Religion and the Politics of Race in the Civil War Era and Beyond,” published by Potomac Books an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press, October 2022. Honestly, I am surprised that the monument still remains.
All good points. As you well know, deep differences between former Confederates were minimized or ignored completely as part of the Lost Cause narrative.
Wow! Your article weaves the politics of two states, the Red Shirts, the horrible massacre of African Americans in Hamburg and today's Confederate monuments. I had read about Wade Hampton in "Rebellion, Reconstruction, and Redemption, 1861-1893: History of Beaufort County, South Carolina" by Stephen Wise and Lawrence Rowland, but Hampton's attendance at this monument's event is new to me. This Confederate monument has not been pulled down, but in a complex way still instructs us on the past today. A further question is demanded. Is there a monument or something for the African Americans murdered at Hamburg? That would instruct us today while honoring the victims and their humanity.
Hamburg no longer exists, and there is no monument. After the massacre it was inhabited by a few hundred Blacks, and amid frequent vandalization by Whites from August was gradually abandoned. In 1929 the ruins were swept away in a massive flood. In 1998 a golf course and row of executive homes were built where it stood. See my book “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: Religion and the Politics of Race in the Civil War Era and Beyond.” Potomac Books an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press, October 2022.
Kevin,
Thank you for this excellent article about the Augusta Confederate monument. Unlike most of the monuments erected during the “Redemption” period, this one is unique as the statues were of real people and not mass produced. The bulk of the monuments featured a generic infantry soldier and were produced in the north and sold for $400. They dot the Southern landscape. The people are interesting for what they represent. Lee and Jackson have no connection to Georgia, but are two thirds of the trinity of major “saints” of the Lost Cause Myth, the third being Jefferson Davis. Davis and Howell Cobb despised each other. Cobb was a leading secessionist, and opposed Davis in the vote to become President of the Confederate States. Cobb entered the Confederate Army, eventually becoming a Major General. He stridently opposed Lee’s last minute support of a move to enlist Black soldiers in February and March of 1865. He was an opponent of Reconstruction and died on a speaking tour while in New York in 1868. Prior to the war he was a long term member of the House of Representatives, and Speaker of the House. His portrait was removed from public display in the House in 2020. Walker, a Georgian, was like Lee on active duty in the U.S. Army and resigned his commission at the beginning of the war. He opposed and exposed General Patrick Cleburne’s plan to emancipate Slaves and allow them to serve in the military in early 1864. He was killed in the Atlanta campaign. I cover the latter in my book, “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: Religion and the Politics of Race in the Civil War Era and Beyond,” published by Potomac Books an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press, October 2022. Honestly, I am surprised that the monument still remains.
All good points. As you well know, deep differences between former Confederates were minimized or ignored completely as part of the Lost Cause narrative.
Wow! Your article weaves the politics of two states, the Red Shirts, the horrible massacre of African Americans in Hamburg and today's Confederate monuments. I had read about Wade Hampton in "Rebellion, Reconstruction, and Redemption, 1861-1893: History of Beaufort County, South Carolina" by Stephen Wise and Lawrence Rowland, but Hampton's attendance at this monument's event is new to me. This Confederate monument has not been pulled down, but in a complex way still instructs us on the past today. A further question is demanded. Is there a monument or something for the African Americans murdered at Hamburg? That would instruct us today while honoring the victims and their humanity.
Glad to hear that you enjoyed it. I am currently using the Wise/Rowland book for my Robert Gould Shaw biography. Excellent book.
I don't believe there is such a monument in Hamburg, but there certainly should be.
Hamburg no longer exists, and there is no monument. After the massacre it was inhabited by a few hundred Blacks, and amid frequent vandalization by Whites from August was gradually abandoned. In 1929 the ruins were swept away in a massive flood. In 1998 a golf course and row of executive homes were built where it stood. See my book “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: Religion and the Politics of Race in the Civil War Era and Beyond.” Potomac Books an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press, October 2022.
Thanks for the additional information.