The Confederate Monument in Louisville is a formerly adjacent to and surrounded by the University of Louisville Belknap Campus in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. Relocation of the monument to Brandenburg, Kentucky, along the town's riverfront began in November 2016, and was completed in mid-December of that year. The granite and bronze structure was erected in 1895 by the Muldoon Monument Company with funds raised by the Kentucky Woman's Confederate Monument Association. The monument commemorates the sacrifice of Confederate veterans who died in the American Civil War.

As with many monuments to the Confederacy, some community activists, such as Louisville's late Reverend Louis Coleman, had called for the removal of the monument from such a prominent location due to an association with the history of civil rights abuses against African-Americans. In the past, both the city and university opposed such proposals. In 2002, the university announced an effort to add civil rights monuments in the vicinity of the Louisville location as part of a redevelopment called "Freedom Park". Two million dollars of funding, principally for the park, was secured in late 2008.

In late April 2016, officials in Louisville announced intention to remove the monument to another location. Subsequently, a Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge signed a temporary restraining order filed by the Kentucky Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans but dissolved the restraining order at a later hearing in May 2016.

On November 15, 2016, the Office of the Mayor in Louisville stated the monument would be dismantled and moved to Brandenburg, Kentucky. This was following input from the Louisville Commission on Public Art which held an open meeting earlier in July and received public suggestions. The town of Brandenburg performed a dedication ceremony, following the relocation, in May 2017.

History

The idea for the monument was first conceived in the basement of the Walnut Street Baptist Church in May 1887 during discussion concerning the decoration of graves at Cave Hill Cemetery. By early June 1887, the first permanent officers and representatives from the state were selected and letters of support were read. Michael Muldoon, of the Louisville monument company, enclosed a photo of a Baltimore monument and advised in his letter only granite and bronze would stand the test of time. Nelly Marshall McAfee, author, poet, and daughter of Humphrey Marshall, expressed her regret at not being able to attend:

In an 1890 act of incorporation, the association's sole purpose was to erect a monument to the memory of soldiers of the Confederacy in or near the city of Louisville. From conception to completion, the Kentucky Woman's Confederate Monument Association grew from 17 to over 250 members led by Susan Marshall Preston Hepburn as the association president. Hepburn, sister of William Preston and sister-in-law of Albert Sidney Johnston, had previously served as President of the Ladies Aid Society of the Masonic Widows and Orphans Home. While a large share of association members were from the Louisville area, women from across the state of Kentucky participated in an organization of 11 districts. As an example, in 1889, it was reported over 40 women in Henderson, including Miss Mary Towles Sasseen, had organized in support. Sasseen, a school teacher, was an early advocate for Mother's Day.

A marble arch over 3rd Street, dedicated to the "Unknown Confederate Dead", was an early monument proposal. Later the depression of 1893 appeared to slow funding. Examples of fund raising efforts included a performance of Ben Hur with over 100 performers in 1891, performance of the Toy Symphony in 1890, and river excursions on the Columbia. After the years of picnics, auctions, canvassing, dances, and other inducements, the monument was completed in summer 1895 at a cost of $12,000. The association continued to hold fund raisers over a year after the dedication to pay off the outstanding debt to the Muldoon Monument Company. A lecture in November 1895 by Henry Watterson, editor of The Courier-Journal, netted over $700 for the purpose.

At the close of the 19th century, the surviving members of the monument association continued efforts as members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Hepburn requested the women not organize into a chapter until the remaining monument debt was paid off. Fifty members of the monument association organized the Albert Sydney Johnston Chapter #120 of the U.D.C. in 1897. Hepburn died shortly afterwards. By 1900, the women had raised funds for the construction of a stone fence and lamps around the monument, and in the fall of that year, the Louisville city councilmen were arguing whether the cost to light the lanterns should be paid from private or city funds. In 1901, the remaining balance was donated towards the construction of another project.

Yandell proposal

In early August 1894, the Board of Public Works gave permission to the association to erect the monument on 3rd Street and began preparations to the site. Over 20 design submissions were accepted as the result of a public notice. The monument association executive committee, in a unanimous vote, initially chose the monument and sculpture design of Enid Yandell and William J. Dodd, the architect, as the best of an ostensibly blind competition in September 1894. When informed of the selection, the larger association rejected the design. The Confederate Veteran magazine had earlier reported on Yandell's efforts in November 1893:

Yandell's proposed design was a female allegorical figure described as martial 'Fame' rising 75 feet high on a base of white limestone, a pedestal of gray granite, and a column of red granite with five 15-foot high bronze candelabras surrounding the perimeter. Association member concerns included Yandell's youth, the accusation that Yandell's friends and family within the association had influenced the executive committee vote, a belief the design should have included a soldier, and skepticism of the total construction expense and monument stability. A larger vote was conducted of association members and Muldoon's design polled 2–1 over Yandell's submission. Yandell and Dodd, on the recommendation of an architecture committee, expressed willingness to replace the limestone base with granite while admitting the design adjustment would eliminate any profit.

Dedication

After a seven-month delay to fully prepare the site, the cornerstone was laid on May 25, 1895. Within the cornerstone, in a copper box, association members placed historical items including a mourning scarf, newspapers, poem and photographs, memoirs, Confederate currency, a Bible and a cigar of Jefferson Davis. Afterwards approximately 5,000 attended the decoration of graves at Cave Hill cemetery. The dedication was on July 30, 1895, in time to coincide with the 29th Grand Army of the Republic annual reunion later in September. The occasion began at 3 P.M. with a parade which started on Broadway passing down 3rd street to the monument and included 200 ex-Confederate soldiers following the band from the Industrial School of Reform. The only Confederate flag at the occasion was battle worn from the war and unfurled at the end of the event. Mayor Henry S. Tyler accepted the monument on behalf of the city. Basil W. Duke gave the oration, reportedly interrupted repeatedly by applause, in front of a large crowd gathered at the grounds of the School of Reform.

Raleigh monument and Judge Thompson

Muldoon constructed a similar monument, using original sculptures by Ferdinand Freiherr von Miller, in 1895 at the State Capitol grounds in Raleigh, North Carolina. Constructed at a cost of $25,000, this monument was paid from a state appropriation rather than private donations. The utilization of the same statue design significantly reduced the cost of construction in Louisville.

Research published in 1956 by Justus Bier, at the time Chair of the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Louisville, suggests one or both of the two lateral figures of both monuments were modeled by von Miller from photographs of W. R. Dicks, a Raleigh, North Carolina Confederate veteran. One of the uniforms was thought modeled from another Raleigh veteran, Thomas P. Devereux. The model for the infantryman of both monuments was believed to have been a photograph of Judge Reginald H. Thompson of Louisville.

A Grand Master of Kentucky Masons, and Confederate veteran, Judge Thompson founded the Kentucky Children's Home and Newsboy's Home and Night School. He also took an active role with the Industrial School of Reform located across the street from the monument as well as the Masonic Widows and Orphans Home. During his funeral procession in 1899, those of all social classes and children from orphanages across the city of Louisville lined the streets to pay their respects. At the time of the dedication, it was reported that Judge Thompson's wife, Elizabeth, was chair of the association auxiliary committee.

The Courier-Journal, in May 1895, wistfully described the top figure:

J. M. Arnold who served with Thompson in the war for four years wrote in 1910 of his gallantry in the war and of his funeral:

20th century proposals

During the 1920s and 1940s, there were proposals to move the monument to nearby Triangle Park (Stansbury Park) as a solution for traffic congestion and accidents, until public sentiment and city officials saved it. In 1921, Mayor George Weissinger Smith and the U.D.C. opposed the removal briefly advocated by the chairman of the Board of Public Works. Later, Louisville Mayor Charles P. Farnsley, a fighter for civil rights, and camp commander of the local Sons of Confederate Veterans, stood guard in front of the monument with a musket and made a public announcement on his wishes to keep the monument where it was. At a Rotary Club meeting in 1949, Farnsley was asked of the legal impediment to moving the monument to Triangle Park. Farnsley quipped, "I'm the only hindrance, and I'm not legal."

In 1954, the monument faced a more serious effort from Mayor Andrew Broaddus, grandson of one of the women of the monument association, to relocate the structure as a part of a $19 million citywide traffic project. By 1956, the mayor and the city compromised and agreed to reduce the area around the monument from a 48-foot diameter circle to a smaller elliptic plot to ease the traffic quandary and avoid moving the monument. The work, completed in 1957 at a cost of $140,000, closed off the Shipp Street entrance and directed local traffic from 3rd and 2nd Streets across Brandeis Avenue.

Freedom Park

The area presently occupied by the nearby University of Louisville was purchased in 1850 by the city for use as an underutilized cemetery. In 1859, the city transferred the land to the House of Refuge, an orphanage and reform school, also known as the Industrial School of Reform after 1886. As the first buildings neared completion, the Civil War broke out and the Union Army commandeered the buildings as hospitals until 1865. The University of Louisville purchased the property in 1923. The chapel of the House of Refuge was converted to The Belknap Playhouse by the university by 1925. In 1980, the Playhouse was rebuilt across the street at the north end of a triangle of land which included the Confederate monument to the south.