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| Monument to Confederate general is only a battered remnant (Picket photo) |
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| Vintage post card shows it had more features (Courtesy of B*ATL) |
A neighborhood group that wants to restore two Battle of Atlanta monuments – one to a Federal general, the other to a Confederate – is carefully navigating the national conversation about what to do with monuments that honored Southern generals and leaders.
“The Battle of Atlanta can be the
beginning of a conversation about race,” leader Henry Bryant wrote last year in
a Zocalo Public Square article.
“Our group’s mission has always been to explore American history -- not just the Confederacy and not just the Union,”
Bryant wrote. The nonprofit Battle of Atlanta (B*ATL) Commemoration Organization includes multiple aspects of the city’s history,
including civil rights, in its neighborhood tours and activities, he said.
A monument fund-raising hike about the
battle is planned for this Sunday afternoon (April 29).
Months after Bryant’s
article, B*ATL spoke before a study committee appointed by then-Mayor Kasim
Reed. That panel was tasked with making recommendations on what to do with
city-owned monuments and street names paying tribute to the Confederacy.
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| 15 -- McPherson marker, 16 -- Walker (Picket map) |
B*ATL for
several years has been raising money to cover a $192,000 restoration
of old monuments to Union Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson and Confederate Maj
Gen. William H.T. Walker. McPherson was killed when he rode into Confederate
lines early during the July 22, 1864, Battle of Atlanta. Less than a mile away,
Walker was knocked out of his saddle by a sniper.
Battle marker, or one with a message?
It’s the
Walker monument, of course, that came under scrutiny.
“It was pointed out that both monuments, by
marking the sites of the deaths, had as much to do with the shooters” as with
the killed officers, Bryant recently told the Picket.
The advisory committee, while recommending changes
for other monuments, recommended that what’s left of the weathered Walker
monument – dedicated in 1902 and located on a small city patch of land – be
kept.
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| The McPherson monument on McPherson Avenue (Picket photo) |
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| How it looked in its early years (Courtesy of B*ATL) |
In its report
submitted in November, the committee said it considered a monument’s purpose
and whether it omitted key information or glorified the Confederacy. The Lost
Cause view of the war, promulgated by white Southerners in the decades
following the conflict, contends the conflict was justified and about defending
states’ rights. Such a view, the advisory committee found, “ignores the moral
atrocities of slavery.”
While
considering emotional attachments to monuments, the committee made distinctions
about their purpose, and that thinking was evident in the Walker monument
recommendation.
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| Gen. Walker |
“This
monument represents an important companion to the McPherson monument when
telling the story of the Battle of Atlanta. The committee recommends that B*ATL
be responsible for appropriate contextualization of this monument. It is the
opinion of the committee that this monument is a battlefield marker and does
not serve a purpose of glorification, but rather is a reminder of an important
historical event. Public comments indicate that the neighborhood has embraced
the two monuments and its site on the location of the battlefield as an
important part of its identity. The committee supports retention of the
monument and its continued support by B*ATL and the adjoining neighborhoods.”
Walker monument in limbo
The Walker monument’s
fate is not certain. Reed left office without taking action in December, as had
been expected. The matter is now under the administration of Mayor Keisha Lance
Bottoms.
The issue of
Confederate monuments, more than five months since the recommendations were
filed, does not appear to be a priority. City Hall is under criticism or investigation
for a number of reasons, including a bribery probe that predates when Bottoms took office.
The Picket
asked Atlanta officials for a status update.
“As of now, there
aren’t any scheduled meetings of the committee, or possible updates or
announcements confirmed,” said Melissa J. Martin, public information officer
for the Department of City Planning.
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| Walker monument is off-center and near a busy road (Picket photo) |
Bryant acknowledged that the issue
remains sensitive, given the McPherson and Walker memorial are in small city
parks. But he contends B*ATL provides an inclusive story about Atlanta and its
residents.
“It’s not a story of black and white,
but a story that is shaded with a wide range of tones,” he wrote last year. “We
want to tell the whole story, not just one side. Our events have long featured
programming about East Atlanta’s civil rights history as well as its Civil War
history.”
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| George Barnard photo of McPherson death site (Library of Congress) |
Aging memorials need a facelift
The East Atlanta monuments each feature a cannon.
Time and, in one case, traffic have taken a toll on the
memorials. They sit on dislodged or structurally weak foundations. The cannons
have water damage and are rusting in places. In recent years, the McPherson cannon has taken on a green color from what appears to be lichen or moss and a surrounding fence and posts are aged and cracked in places.
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| Gen. McPherson |
After McPherson's death, Union Brig.
Gen. Andrew Hickenlooper rode to the mangled woods where McPherson died. There
were no homes in the area at the time. Hickenlooper nailed a sign to the tree
at the death site, which was photographed by Atlanta Campaign photographer
George Barnard.
An early fence surrounding the 1877 monument featured gun
barrels at the corners, said Bryant, but they disappeared. “From the very
beginning there was problem with vandalism,” he told the Picket in 2012.
The McPherson monument, now surrounded
by homes, was moved in 1906. Eventually, it was raised to make it more visible.
The Walker monument to the east is more
easily seen, but doesn’t get the protection the McPherson monument receives. It sits on a busy road (Glenwood Avenue at Wilkinson Drive) near Interstate 20. Walker was shot will leading his troops across the backwaters of Terry's Millpond in Kirkwood and East Atlanta.
Motorists have hit the marker several times, knocking it
off-kilter on its pedestal. The red granite monument’s steps and plaque are
gone. At least two feet of water and gunk are in the cannon barrel.
The memorial used to rest on a nearby
hill, to make it convenient for visitors, but was moved to its current, more
accurate location, in the late 1930s. B*ATL would like to move the monument to the center of a triangle and
build steps to raise it, so it will match the appearance of the McPherson
monument.
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| Proposed upgrade for memorial near Interstate 20, courtesy of B*ATL) |
Bryant said the tiered steps were buried
when the surrounding land was raised during road construction. “Only the top of
the top tier is visible. The fencing and cannon balls were not moved from the
original site.”
“Hopefully, we can clean
whatever is below ground and reuse it. If it matches the above ground base it
will be orange (rust and red clay), both above and below ground stone to be
returned to their gray granite color.”
Walk this weekend benefits effort
The campaign
to restore the monuments has been a long march; the Picket first wrote about it in 2011.
B*ATL has
about $150,000 to $155,000 in pledges and in the bank, Bryant said. Grants from
the Frances and Beverly DuBose Foundation and matches account for $40,000 of
that. The city’s parks department has pledged $32,000. but has not issued
formal funding, he said.
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| McPherson monument has cracks at base, on features |
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| (Picket photos) |
“I
do not have all of the money needed, but feel that we could come up with the
remainder by going only to the neighborhood to pass the hat. There are other
deadlines that might require that we begin before we have all of the money. We
are trying not to lose any of the money that we have been given,” Bryant said.
B*ATL might
consider reducing some landscaping and other features, or use concrete instead
of granite curbing if it doesn’t reach the $192,000 target.
This Sunday
is an opportunity for those who want to learn about the Battle of the Atlanta
and support the monument restoration effort. B*ATL is doing a 5-mile “Battle in
Reverse” hike at 3 p.m. “We
start at the end of the battle traversing the Union front lines, seeing historic
sites as we go towards the beginning where the Confederates entered the scene
to challenge and then returning to the end,” Bryant said.
The tour will
take up to three hours and costs $15. You can register here.
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| Current plans for restoration on McPherson Avenue (B*ATL) |
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