Tarboro, North Carolina - Edgecombe County Confederate Monument in the Town Common Removed, Remains in Storage

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Salute! NEVER FORGET! This is the Edgecombe County Confederate Monument in Tarboro, North Carolina that was removed in 2020. It was erected in 1904 in the Town Common, a historic park established in 1760. Sponsored by the William Dorsey Prender Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy, it honored the Confederate soldiers from Edgecombe County who answered the call to defend their homeland, homes, and families in America's largest war. On the side of the memorial is inscribed, "Defenders of State Sovereignty" and dated 1861–1865. The monument was unveiled on October 29, 1904 with a ceremony that included speeches and music like "Dixie." A time capsule was placed beneath it, later excavated in 2020. (photos taken June 13, 2020)
The war memorial had been the pride of the city until August 29, 2020, when the Tarboro Town Council voted 5-3 to remove it amid nationwide protests following George Floyd’s death in a far away northern Yankee state. It was offered to Fort Branch, a nearby Confederate Earthwork site, but the owner rejected it. Unfortunately, it has remained in storage to this day.
The nearby historical marker (shown) describes the ruthlessness of the Union Invaders in the area... "Soldiers plundered private homes, the Masonic Lodge, the Bank of Tarboro, and other businesses for valuables. The Federals marched south in the evening back through Sparta toward New Bern after the engagement at Daniel's Schoolhouse a few miles east of here. They set the Tar River bridge afire behind them, but townspeople extinguished it before it sustained extensive damage." It's amazing that the only memorial to the Defenders of Tarboro was removed!
The historic town common was laid out when Tarboro was incorporated in 1760. During the unCivil War, two Confederate hospitals stood here in the old Male and Female Academies, as well as a Confederate prison stockade for Union soldiers captured at the Battle of Plymouth in April 1864. The Wyatt Fountain here was erected after the war in honor of Pvt Henry Lawson Wyatt, a Tarboro resident. Killed at the Battle of Big Bethel on June 10, 1861, he became the first North Carolinian known to have died in battle during the war.
#military #dixie #southern


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