Standing atop 19 feet of what was considered “Virginia’s finest granite,” the Town of Farmville’s last Confederate soldier permanently gazes across High Street onto Longwood University’s campus.
His 117-year-old beard remains neat, and his fixed posture appears casual, unaware of the national uproar ensuing over his existence.
In the wake of the deadly protest against the removal of Confederate General Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville and ongoing public meetings regarding Richmond’s historic Monument Avenue, Confederate monuments have been taken down, covered or called to be removed across the country, from Baltimore, Maryland, to Birmingham, Alabama.
In an immediate response to Charlottesville, Farmville held a community prayer vigil on Aug. 13 to recognize the tragedy.
Local educational leaders, including Longwood University President W. Taylor Reveley, Hampden-Sydney College President Dr. Larry Stimpert, Prince Edward County Superintendent Dr. Barbara Johnson and Head of Schools for Fuqua School John Melton, published an editorial condemning the violence and white supremacist ideologies that were displayed.
Amid turmoil in other areas in Virginia, Farmville's 26-foot-tall Confederate monument quietly stands along High Street facing Longwood University's campus. The statue was erected on Thursday, Oct. 11, 1900.
However, sixty-five miles south of Richmond’s Monument Avenue, the discussion of Confederate symbols themselves has yet to take hold in Farmville and the surrounding counties.
Although Farmville Mayor David Whitus co-organized the community vigil following the events in Charlottesville, his office hasn’t released a statement regarding the Confederate monument on High Street.
Farmville Communications Specialist Kate Eggleston said the town wasn’t responding to any requests for comment at this time. Town officials wanted to wait to see the situation settle down after Charlottesville before making public statements, she added.
Subsequently, requests for interviews with Whitus, Vice-Mayor Chuckie Reid and Town Manager Gerry Spates were denied.
However, Prince Edward County NAACP President Ghee said he’s proposed the relocation of Farmville’s monument to the town’s Confederate cemetery to one town council member. The name of the town council member wasn’t provided.
“If we wanted to recognize those who had died and those who were still living but dying fast, the Confederate cemetery would have been the appropriate place to put this monument,” said Ghee.
The issue of Confederate monuments around the country has sparked dialogue regarding America’s history with race in a passionate heritage versus hate debate.
Reveley said, “America today is reckoning with its history in a more earnest way than it maybe ever has. That, in a time when it has so many painful undercurrents, is maybe something that we should celebrate, that there is this reckoning occurring.”
Richmond’s confederate monuments were erected between 1900 and 1924; Charlottesville’s monument of Robert E. Lee arose in 1924.
"America today is reckoning with its history in a more earnest way than it maybe ever has."
W. Taylor Reveley IV, Longwood University President
In honor of “Confederate Heroes,” the United Daughters of the Confederacy and a group of local Confederate veterans unveiled Farmville’s monument during a fair week on Thursday, Oct. 11, 1900.
The monuments were built at a cross section in history when the census showed veterans of the Confederacy were dying and Reconstruction gave way to the development of Jim Crow laws.
According to research compiled by former Farmville-Prince Edward Historical Society President Marie DeLaney, the United Daughters led the fundraising and design efforts after the federal census showed only a few hundred confederate veterans were still alive in Prince Edward County.
The 26-foot-tall monument using granite and bronze cost $3,000 to build in 1900, twice the cost of an average home at the time, according to DeLaney.
Farmville and Prince Edward County donated a combined $800 to the cause, while the rest was raised through private donations, plays and concerts.
In her 1988 speech to the Exchange Club, DeLaney said, “The monuments give the real clues as to what the townfolks respect and remember of their past and want others to remember also.”
As an anthropologist and archeologist, Longwood professor Dr. James Jordan studies the human history and pre-history. Considering the monument debate, he said meaning tends to change with time.
“Symbols can be interpreted in a lot of different ways, depending on the person who’s doing the interpreting, depending on the time when something is done,” Jordan said.
For Sons of Confederate Veterans member Dr. Mitchell Adrian, the removal of monuments stems from an oversimplification of America’s history, believing facts are lost when history is summarized.
“Trying to tear down the monuments I think is just foolish because we oversimplify a very complex issue, trying to call it good or bad,” said Adrian, a former Farmville resident and Longwood business professor. “If we let go of the complexities of an issue, we forget where we are.”
To Ghee, the monuments represent “the resurgence of white supremacy,” and the current discussion at a national level reveals “our inability as a society to deal with race.”
While working on his dissertation, Adrian said he researched topics of diversity and sought out original documents from the Civil War.
"Hollywood makes us think it was all whips and chains, but there was so much money tied up into it."
Mitchell Adrian, McNeese State University professor, Sons of Confederate Veterans member, former Farmville resident and Longwood professor
He said he believed movies and shows perpetuate misconceptions about slavery and the cause of the Civil War, leaving out the value of slavery to the Southern economy and their underdeveloped understanding of human rights.
“We have a different kind of understanding of human rights today than we had then,” said Adrian. “Using today’s mindset to judge people of yesterday is not always a fair thing to do I think.”
Ghee said most monuments were erected after Reconstruction ended in the election of 1877 of President Rutherford B. Hayes.
A voting rights study by the National Parks Services' National Historic Landmarks Program showed that is the time period when African-Americans began to lose government positions and ultimately the right to vote into the early 1900s.
“Black people lost the right to vote and participate freely. Of course, by 1900 people wanted to recognize the confederate soldiers who had died in the war,” said Ghee.
Looking at monuments of Lee, Ghee questioned how the statue could describe patriotism.
“What does the Lee statue represent in Charlottesville put up some 30 years after the war, but during the time that black people were being denied the right to vote and white Virginians wanted to show that, ‘hey, we’re back in charge.’ ”
On Friday, Aug. 22, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring issued an advisory opinion on any Virginia law prohibiting the removal or relocation of veteran monuments.
§ 15.2-1812
Memorials for war veterans
Original legislation passed in 1904
Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia That the circuit court of any county be, and it is hereby, empowered, with the concurrence of the board of supervisors of such county entered of record, to authorize and permit the erection of a Confederate monument upon the public square of such county at the county seat thereof. And if the same shall be erected, it shall not be lawful thereafter for the authorities of said county or any other person or persons whatever, to disturb or interfere with any monument so erected, or to prevent the citizens of said county from taking all proper measures and exercising all proper means for the protection, preservation, and care of the same.
In his opinion, he said 15.2-1812 of the Code of Virginia shouldn’t apply to any monuments erected in a county prior 1904 when the legislation was first passed. Herring said localities weren’t protected by the law until a 1997 amendment by the General Assembly.
“It should be noted that the longstanding rule in Virginia is that statutes ‘are construed to operate prospectively only,’ ” said Herring. He added laws can only work retroactively when it is explicitly written into the law.
He said only monuments that were built as part of a special Act of Assembly or if the monument donated to the county with certain limitations were exceptions.
As Farmville’s monument was erected prior to the bill’s passage, the town would have to look into any potential limitations from the year of fundraising prior to considering any relocation or removal.
Starting his career as an attorney, Reveley said the state’s facing “a legal knot right now that’s all bundled and tied and unclear” surrounding the monuments.
But, ultimately, he said it’s a question for the town.
“I do get a sense from them that the legal considerations are real and the worry about the financial ramifications of any actions they might take in the short term are in the backdrop,” said Reveley.
Referencing President Abraham Lincoln, Jordan said he believed the "commonfolk" should have the power to decide the fate of the monuments.
He said, "I’ve always thought in situations where people are in kind of an uproar, a referendum asking the commonfolk … at the ballot box what the will of the people is might be a nice thing to do."
Adrian said he’d like to see an in-depth review of the history of each monument before decisions on their value are made. He also believed localities should only act after a plan is made.
“The problem is what’s happening is they just take it down with no plan as to where it’s going to go next, and I think that if you presented the plan, then people would probably buy it a lot easier,” said Adrian.
Four days after the the violence in Charlottesville, the City of Baltimore's mayor had their four statues removed in the middle of the night on Wednesday, Aug. 16.
The Baltimore Sun reported the city's mayor was uncertain where monuments would be taken after they were hauled away, though the city was reaching out to different cemeteries who may have interest.
Ghee said he believed when the town does begin to discuss the monument, its leadership will do “what’s right.”
“We have found that most of the leadership when questioned will do the right thing,” said Ghee. “It may not be what everybody likes, but it’s what they consider is the right thing.”
Reveley said if Longwood students decided to take part in the discussion, the university would support them.
“What we do at Longwood is help create citizen leaders, if that’s one of the ways our students think they can use their voice best then Longwood would’ve be proud to see citizen leaders doing their part,” he said.
Until the town begins to discuss Farmville’s monument, Ghee said the NAACP is working on a statewide campaign to start conversations about the broader issue of racial reconciliation.
He said they reached out to the heads of all churches in the states, hoping each church issues a directive instructing their local churches to facilitate the discussion.
“The moral fabric of our society is being called into question and the moral fabric of a society starts at the church,” said Ghee. “It’s clearly something that has to one from the bottom up, but there has to be something that triggers the bottom to begin the process.”
§ 15.2-1812
Memorials for war veterans
A locality may, within the geographical limits of the locality, authorize and permit the erection of monuments or memorials for any war or conflict, or for any engagement of such war or conflict, to include the following monuments or memorials: Algonquin (1622), French and Indian (1754-1763), Revolutionary (1775-1783), War of 1812 (1812-1815), Mexican (1846-1848), Confederate or Union monuments or memorials of the War Between the States (1861-1865), Spanish-American (1898), World War I (1917-1918), World War II (1941-1945), Korean (1950-1953), Vietnam (1965-1973), Operation Desert Shield-Desert Storm (1990-1991), Global War on Terrorism (2000- ), Operation Enduring Freedom (2001- ), and Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003- ). If such are erected, it shall be unlawful for the authorities of the locality, or any other person or persons, to disturb or interfere with any monuments or memorials so erected, or to prevent its citizens from taking proper measures and exercising proper means for the protection, preservation and care of same. For purposes of this section, “disturb or interfere with” includes removal of, damaging or defacing monuments or memorials, or, in the case of the War Between the States, the placement of Union markings or monuments on previously designated Confederate memorials or the placement of Confederate markings or monuments on previously designated Union memorials.The governing body may appropriate a sufficient sum of money out of its funds to complete or aid in the erection of monuments or memorials to the veterans of such wars. The governing body may also make a special levyto raise the money necessary for the erection or completion of any such monuments or memorials, or to supplement the funds already raised or that may be raised by private persons, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion or other organizations. It may also appropriate, out of any funds of such locality, a sufficient sum of money to permanently care for, protect and preserve such monuments or memorials and may expend the same thereafter as other funds are expended.
