Confederate Monument

Wilmington [Removed]

View complete article and references at Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina at: https://docsouth.unc.edu/commland/monument/116
 

Description: Erected to honor the courage and self-sacrifice of New Hanover County's Confederate soldiers, this monument presents two bronze sculptural figures framed by a tall granite stele. The figures represent two Confederate soldiers as the figures of courage and sacrifice. The figure of courage stands tall and determined, as he protects the body of his fallen comrade, the figure of sacrifice. The standing soldier is dressed in military attire and wearing a caped coat that floats in the air behind him as he holds his rifle in his right hand with the bayonet pointing upward. Unlike many Confederate soldier statues where the figure stands silently and obediently at parade rest, the standing soldier in this rendering wears no hat and is portrayed as if in motion, elegant and gallant. One soldier's face is modeled after that of granite salesman John Ernest Ramsay of Salisbury, who provided the stone for the stele. The monument was apparently vandalized around 1950 with John Ramsay replacing the stone at that time.
The pedestal is inscribed with a commemoration in verse. It includes the Latin phrase Pro Aris et Focis. This phrase, literally translated as "for our altars and hearths", is also translated into the patriotic motto, "for God and country."
Images: Contemporary view | View from the intersection of South 3rd Street with Dock Street | Front inscription on pedestal | Rear inscription
 

Nickname: The monument is also known as the Boney Monument.
 

Inscription:
Front, stele: 1861 - 1865 / TO THE SOLDIERS OF / THE CONFEDERACY
Front, pedestal: CONFEDERATES BLEND YOUR RECOLLECTIONS / LET MEMORY WEAVE ITS BRIGHT REFLECTIONS / LET LOVE REVIVE LIFE'S ASHEN EMBERS / FOR LOVE IS LIFE SINCE LOVE REMEMBERS / PRO ARIS ET FOCIS / THIS MONUMENT IS A LEGACY OF GABRIEL JAMES BONEY / BORN WALLACE, N.C., 1845 - DIED WILMINGTON, N.C., 1915 / A CONFEDERATE SOLDIER
Rear, stele: ERECTED BY A COMMITTEE UNDER THE / TESTATOR'S WILL REPRESENTING THE / DAUGHTERS OF THE CONFEDERACY, THE / CONFEDERATE VETERANS' ASSOCIATION / AND HIS EXECUTOR / MCMXXIV
 

Dedication date: 1924
 

Creator: Francis Herman Packer, Sculptor Henry Bacon, Designer Roman Bronze Works, Foundry
 

Materials & Techniques: Bronze, granite
 

Sponsor: Gabriel Boney
 

Subject notes: Funds for the monument were provided for by the will of Gabriel James Boney, a Wilmington resident and Confederate veteran. He named the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy to the committee to erect the monument. The monument was apparently vandalized in the 1950s, with James Ramsay of Salisbury providing a replacement for the stone. He had provided the stone for the original stele. The bayonet was damaged and replaced sometime in the late 1980s.

 

Controversies: In response to social protest, the sculpture was removed from the base and surrounding stele on June 24, 2020 by the Town of Wilmington.

 

Location: The monument sat in the center of South 3rd Street at its intersection with Dock Street. The front of the monument faced North.  As of June 30, 2020, the stone base and stele still sit in the median. The statue is in storage.
 

Landscape: The monument is located on the grass in the median dividing South 3rd Street.
 

City: Wilmington
 

County: New Hanover
 

Subjects: Civil War
 

11 July 2014 | Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina