The Confederate Monument in Murray is a historic statue located in the northeast corner of the Calloway County Courthouse in Murray, Kentucky.[1]
The fountain was funded after three years by the J. N. Williams Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1917, whose chairman died during that period; her name was placed upon the monument in tribute. The U.D.C. paid $2,500 to Marietta, Georgia's McNeel Monument Company for the monument.[1][2]
The 16.5-foot-tall (5.0 m) monument has three parts. The bottom is a porcelain drinking fountain; when it was a working fountain, a step pedal was used to obtain water. It was by far the most elaborate and modern of the Civil War fountain monuments.[3] (The other three fountains are the Confederate Memorial in Mayfield, Confederate Memorial Fountain in Hopkinsville, and the Confederate Monument of Cadiz.) Four 6-foot-tall (1.8 m) Doric columns support a granite canopy. Inside the canopy is an ornate iron light fixture with four incandescent bulbs to light the fountain. On top are four marble balls and a 5.5-foot-tall (1.7 m) marble statue of Robert E. Lee, making it the only monument in Kentucky that heavily features Robert E. Lee;[3] the only other monument in Kentucky with a likeness of Lee is Bardstown, Kentucky's Confederate Monument of Bardstown which has only a small relief portrait of Lee below the large statue of a Confederate soldier.[1][3]
During the war, Murray/Calloway County saw 800 of its citizens serve in the Confederate Army, as opposed to 200 who served in the Union Army.[1]
On July 17, 1997, the Confederate Monument in Murray was one of sixty-one different monuments related to the Civil War in Kentucky placed on the National Register of Historic Places, as part of the Civil War Monuments of Kentucky Multiple Property Submission.[4]
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References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Murray, Ky. Trailsrus.com, Accessed November 12, 2008
- ↑ Brent, Joseph. Confederate Monument in Murray NRHP Nomination Form (Kentucky Heritage Council, 1997) p.1
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Brent p.1
- ↑ Joseph E. Brent (January 8, 1997). National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Submission: Civil War Monuments in Kentucky, 1865-1935 PDF (1.81 MiB). National Park Service.
The original article can be found at Confederate Monument in Murray and the edit history here.