The South’s Confederate-monument problem is not going away

It was 1913, and the Civil War had been over for 48 years. The United Daughters of the Confederacy, an organization that worked to populate the South with Confederate war memorials, decided such a monument should be erected in Rockville, Md.

The bronze statue, a soldier standing with folded arms, was constructed by a local granite company for the sum of $3,600. A plaque at the bottom read, “To Our Heroes of Montgomery Co., Maryland, That We Through Life May Not Forget To Love The Thin Gray Line.” It was dedicated in a June ceremony in front of the courthouse, with 3,000 spectators listening to a band play “Dixie” and the “Star-Spangled Banner,” according to the account of a local historian.

Supporters of the statue saw it, and continue to see it, as a historic symbol of heritage that acknowledged a painful past. The statue’s detractors saw it, and continue to see it, as deeply offensive, honoring an institution that had honored slavery. One hundred years after the statue was installed, some residents lobbied to take it down.