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History of the Confederate Monument Sherman, Texas  Dallas Morning News April 22, 1897 HISTORY OF MONUMENT Sherman, Tex., April 21 - In 1891 the city council of Sherman donated a block of ground in West Hill cemetery to the confederate for the burial of their dead. In the spring of that year in conversation with several members of Mildred Lee camp, Robert Walker, adjutant of the camp, suggested that a shaft be erected in the center of the block, when A. Harrington remarked that he believed money enough could be raised with proper effort to build a fine monument to be placed on the courthouse squared. At the fourth annual meeting of the camp, May 16,1 892, these suggestions took definite shape by the adoption of a motion appointing a committee of three men and three women, called the monument committee, for the purpose of taking the matter in hand and to devise ways and means to collect sufficient money for the purpose of erecting a splendid monument to commemorate the glorious deeds, the self-sacrifices and the sufferings of the heroes who gave their lives in defense of the great principles of state's rights in the great war of 1861-65. This committee was composed of A. Harrington, Capt. J. H. LeTellier, E. O. Thomas, Mrs. C. W. Brown, Mrs. J. H. Glasscock and Mrs. J. E. Wharton. The committee began its work by circulating a subscription for the first year, obtaining many subscribers, but the vast majority of the members of the camp were men of very moderate means and the amount grew very slowly . This committee pass through many changes as at each annual meeting new members were appointed, except as to A. Harrington, who remained its chairman up to the present time and has labored zealously for it. In the fall of 1891 the Sherman institute, now Mary Nash college, gave an entertainment for the benefit of this monument, the receipts amounting to $65. In February, 1892, Mrs. Bishop Key, president of the North Texas Female college, gave an entertainment for its benefit, netting something over $250. In 1894 she gave another, which netted, $200.50, and again in April 1896, this same lady gave another, from which was received something over $150. Unfortunately, during the nights of these last two entertainments, the weather was stormy, keeping many away. The Mary Nash college gave an entertainment in March 1897, which netted $40. The Daughters of the Confederacy gave dinners, ice cream festivals, and lawn parties, the receipts of which helped to swell the amount. A small sum was realized from the lectures of Gen. Gordon, Gov. Bob Taylor and Mr. Polk Miller. Gov. Taylor donated $20 to the monument fund from his private purse. From a description by Mr. Harrington of what was needed, Warren Reed planned and drew a rough sketch of it and the completed draught with the figure of a soldier on the top was executed by a St. Louis firm. Warren Reed made the contract, which was dated Jan. 6, 1896. Mr. Reed, however, severed his connection with it before its completion. The corner stone was laid with imposing ceremonies and in the presence of about 10,000 spectators on April 3, 1896, and it was completed on Oct. 6 of the same year. It was erected by E.T. Bergen & Co., of Fort Worth for the firm of Venable Bros. of Atlanta, Ga., for whom Warren Reed was the agent when the contract was agreed to and signed. The material was quarried from Stone mountain, where the battle of Stone mountain was fought. The original price of the completed monument was $5000. It is of beautiful blue-gray granite, the foundation being twelve feet square, the pedestal ten feet square at its base and gradually tapering up. The body is square. A little above the center on each side is a Texas star. The top is capped by a white bronzed confederate infantry soldier with his gun at rest, gazing in the distance, and quipped for battle. This excellent figure is six feet, on a bronzed pedestal four inches high and was manufactured by a firm in Bridgeport, Conn. The beautiful monument standing in the northeast corner of the courthouse square is forty-three feet high. The completed inscriptions upon it are as follows: On the northeast side: "The first confederate monument erected in Texas, April 3, 1896, under the auspices of the Ex-Confederate Association of Grayson County, Texas, organized July 21, 1888, changed to Mildred Lee camp, U.C.V., May 21, 1892. "Sacred to the memory of our confederate dead. True patriots, they fought for home and country, for the holy principles of self-government, the only true liberty. Their sublime self-sacrifices and unsurpassed valor will teach future generations the lesson of high-born patriotism, of devotion to duty, of exalted courage, of southern chivalry. History has enshrined them immortal." On the southeast side: "The Dixie chapter of United Daughters of the Confederacy No. 35, organized Sept. 21, 1894, to aid in perpetuating the glorious memory of our martyred heroes." "This marble minstrel's voiceless stone In deathless song shall tell When many a vanished year hath flown The story how ye fell." The
arrangement committees for the confederate monument met in the Commercial club
office at 10:30 o'clock yesterday morning. Mrs. J.R. Currie was the first to make a report. This report which was on behalf of the Daughters of the Confederacy indicated progress. Mr. C.L. Wakefield, chairman of the finance committee said in a written report, which stated that they would have but little trouble in raising the funds necessary, and Mr. Alex Ortlieb, chairman of the committee on dedication, expressed the belief that a majority of the business men would decorate their stores. Mr. J.F. Zang spoke a few encouraging words, a number of invitations to the hall were issued to the committeemen for distribution and the meeting adjourned. Confederate Monument History Historical Markers Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson CountyTXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |