Confederate Statue Winchester VA
1916, November 15 is the date of this statue.
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51 years and some months past, the "Civil War" ended.
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There are 70 and 80 year old veterans of that war involved and at the ceremony.
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Imagine being black and being no where near this spot at this moment.
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And now in June of 2020, Winchester is looking at its removal.
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From Handley Library Stewart Bell Jr Archives – Unveiling of statue of Confederate soldier in front of Old Frederick County Courthouse, 20 North Loudoun Street. Crowd surrounding statue, buildings on Rouss Avenue including top of Empire Theatre. Date given as Oct-Nov. 1916. Two prints in envelope. Filed under “Confederate soldier statue, unveiling”. . Click on Photo to enlarge. Hit backspace arrow to return here. . See this link for source of photo
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This is a story of those involved with this statue.
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The Larger and More Important Story of Slavery and Race Relations continues.
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After all the debate back and forth,
our backgrounds still make us look at these statues differently.
Since 15 November 1916
this statue has stood
in front of the
1840 Courthouse,
20 N Loudoun St
Winchester VA.
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But this website is about Fort Loudoun and the French and Indian War.
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What’s THIS
Confederate Statue
have to do with the
French and Indian War?
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Answer:
Nothing.
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But the people involved with this statue do.
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Here are the connections:
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Captain GW Kurtz
1838-1926
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Captain George Washington Kurtz was at this
Confederate Statue commemoration, November 1916.
He was too sick to attend the Braddock Cannon Memorial a year before in May 1915.
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He is the former owner of the GW office who sold it to City Council in 1908.
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This sale was helped by T K Cartmell, another Confederate Veteran who was involved with this Statue, and who was near finished with writing his book that year which may have influenced the sale of that building to the city.
And that book was published by the Eddy Press. C Vernon Eddy, who was involved with the Winchester Confederate Statue and who was the first Librarian of Handley Library also had a large printing press operation in Virginia and he married GW Kurtz's daughter, so John Eddy mentioned further below was Captain GW Kurtz’ grandson.
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But Back to Captain George Washington Kurtz:
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He is Captain of the Daniel Morgan Rifleman group
whose uniforms are from the Rev War and of 1812.
This group is ready for the war in 1861.
This group is named after Daniel Morgan
who sustained lifetime wounds
in his mouth and a flogging on his back
from the the French and Indian War
but garnered all his Glory from
the Revolutionary War.
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Stories of the Unveiling of the Statue
Article on Confederate Statue Nov 1916
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The Monument at Winchester VA .
The realization of a cherished dream was the unveiling of the Confederate monument at Winchester VA, in the month of November 1916. With simple and impressive ceremonies the veterans of Winchester and Frederick County dedicated the handsome monument on the Public Square, commemorating the valor of its people during the war between the States. It will be a lasting honor to those who in heroic self-sacrifice and devoted loyalty gave their manhood and their lives to the South in her hour of need. . The heroic figure in bronze of a Confederate soldier, fully armed and equipped, stands on a base of political granite in front of the historic courthouse of Frederick County, said to be one of the finest specimens of colonial architecture in the South. The simple beauty of the monument makes the most agreeable impression. The young soldier is represented as in the act of leaving for the front. The figure is well proportioned and typifies all those ideals for which the South made such a valiant and heroic fight. . The principal address
of the occasion was made by
of Lexington VA,
a noted constitutional lawyer
and former member of Congress.
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The veil was drawn by two grandsons
of Confederate veterans,
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young Billy McGuire,
son of Dr. W.P.McGuire and
grandson of Dr. Hunter McGuire,
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and John Eddy,
grandson of Captain George W. Kurtz,
Commander of the Gen. Turner Ashby Camp, C.V. of Winchester. . Just as the veil fell the band played “Dixie” amid tremendous applause. Confederate veterans,
among whom were many from the Shenandoah Valley sections,
Daughters and Sons of the Confederacy, and
their friends largely made up the great crowd in attendance;
there were also students from
the High School,
Fort Loudoun Seminary, and
a corps of cadets from the Shenandoah Valley Academy. . After the unveiling
the program was concluded
at the City Hall Auditorium
with music and readings,
a poem written especially
for this occasion by Miss Kate McVicar
[Ed Note: Kate McVicar used NEMO as her pen name in the newspaper]
being read by the Hon. R. Gray Williams. . It is fitting that Winchester and Frederick County should erect a worthy memorial to the soldiers who fought for the South. . Many historic associations cling to that old city about which the tide of war ebbed and flowed in the sixties, and its people have honored themselves in honoring their heroes. . Much credit is due to
Messrs. James B. Russell and
Miss Lucy W. Russell,
treasurer of the monument fund,
who were ably assisted by
Dr. W. P. McGuire,
Hon. Robert T Barton,
forming the Monument Commission. . The work was executed by
Frederick C. Hibbard, of Chicago,
who is now completing the monument
that will soon be dedicated
on the Shiloh battle field.
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Source: From Confederate Veteran, Nashville, Tenn., March 1917, Volume XXV
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Link:
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November 15, 1916
Winchester Star Article
A cold afternoon:
. With simple and impressive ceremonies, the Confederate veterans of Winchester and Frederick County this afternoon unveiled and dedicated a handsome and imposing monument to the public square, commemorative of the valor exhibited by the people of the county of Frederick and the city of Winchester during the war period of 1861-1865.
. On account of the weather being colder than had been originally anticipated, the exercises at the monument were curtailed and after the memorial had been unveiled those in attendance went to the City Hall Auditorium, where the remainder of the program was carried out. .
On a base and sub-base of highly polished brown granite stands the figure of a young Confederate soldier, a son of Virginia, fully armed and equipped, who appears to be in the act of leaving for the front in response to his state’s call for troops.
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Photo of Unveiling Ceremony
of the Confederate Statue
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30 Dec 1884 to 9 Oct 1918
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This one man connects you:
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1. to the “Civil War”
through his father, Holmes Conrad, a Confederate veteran.
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His Dad was hugely instrumental in getting the Handley Library built in 1913. He was Solicitor General (the attorney who presents cases to Supreme Court). He was also an advisor to President McKinley.
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President McKinley was a Yankee soldier in Winchester at end of war who became a Mason in Winchester VA and who has a plaque commemorating that.
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Holmes Conrad, Robert’s dad, was a veteran in the Confederate Army.
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Both Pres McKinley and Holmes Conrad, the father of Robert Y Conrad had a shared interest of course in Winchester VA and particularly about getting a memorial monument for Daniel Morgan.
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2. to WWI
because he, Robert Y Conrad, is in that war.
Two years after unveiling this Confederate statue, our man, Robert Y Conrad is in the trenches in October 8, 1918, in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive , which ended WWI.
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Robert Y Conrad gets shot in the head (unbelievably dies a day later) on the same day “Sergeant” York (Corporal actually then) captures single handedly 132 Germans.
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3. and to the French and Indian War
because he, Robert Y Conrad, gives a speech 27 May 1915 at the consecration of the Braddock Cannon.
He then attends this Confederate Statue Commemoration on 15 Nov.1916.
Robert Y Conrad's Dad's Brother, Daniel Burr Conrad was highly instrumental in getting President Zachary Taylor's daughter Bettie Dandridge who lived on Braddock Street to find General Braddock's Sash at the bottom of her trunk.
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More on connections of Robert Y Conrad:
This man gave a speech about the Braddock Expedition memorializing the cannon whose 100th year anniversary at its spot on Corner of Cork and Braddock went unnoticed just like the Confederate Statue did last year (2016).
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And at that Braddock Cannon there is a famous picture of girls holding the Braddock Sash which was stored in President Zachary Taylor’s trunk for 40 years and resided on Braddock Street where his daughter, Mary Elizabeth Taylor Bliss Dandridge, who acted as First Lady in her father’s White House and whose older sister was the first wife of Jefferson Davis before he became President of the Confederacy.
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John William Nail
1853-1938
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From Handley Library Stewart Bell Jr Archives.
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He made a model of that Confederate statue and was displayed in Hable’s Store.
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He is also well known for carving models and figurines out of the French and Indian War era Fort Loudoun or its later stockade wood incarnation as a prison during the Revolutionary War.
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The gavel for the French and Indian War Foundation’s Board of Directors was made by John William Nail.
The gavel was orginally given to the Fort Loudoun Seminary according to Katherine Glass Greene.
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Model of Confederate Statue by John William Nail:
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John William Nail’s carvings from the wood from Fort Loudoun were on loan to the now closed Feltner Museum - Scroll down to see more on that museum.
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The now closed
Feltner Museum
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See this website on the close Feltner Museum:
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Feltner Museum Posted: August 10, 2016 by Amy Alonzo
The Winchester Star
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For those with paid access –
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Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Taylor Bliss Dandridge, born Mary Elizabeth Taylor (April 20, 1824 – July 25, 1909), see Wikipedia link
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See Braddock Sash and Bettie Dandridge being one of its owners.
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Original posted June 04, 2017
Confederate Statue Winchester VA
Jun 11, 2020 Jim Moyer
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