The Confederate soldier statue on the downtown square in Bentonville was put there in 1908. Following the violence that broke out in Charlottesville, Virginia earlier this month, a local group called Ozark Indivisble started a petition calling for the monument's removal. That petition spurred another petition declaring support for keeping the monument. The statue was put up more than 40 years after the Civil War at a time when Arkansas and many other southern states were erecting Confederate monuments. We speak with historian Rebecca Howard, who grew up in Bentonville and is now an assistant professor of history at Lone Star College Montgomery, about that period of time in Northwest Arkansas when the monument in Bentonville was installed. To read more about the dedication ceremony for the statue, click here, and to read more about the history of Confederate monuments in Arkansas, click here.
The History of Bentonville's Confederate Monument as Some Call for Its Removal
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The statue of the Confederate soldier on the Bentonville was dedicated during a large ceremony in 1908. The word CONFEDERATE is featured on all four sides of the monument's base.
Z. SITEK / KUAF
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Engraved on the west face of monument is: TO THE SOUTHERN SOLDIER - ERECTED BY A.J. BATES AND THE JAMES H. BERRY CHAPTER UNITED DAUGHTERS OF THE CONFEDERACY - AUG. 8, 1908.
Z. SITEK / KUAF
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Engraved on the south face of the monument are the dates 1861 to 1865 and on the east face: THEY FOUGHT FOR HOME AND FATHERLAND.
Z. SITEK / KUAF
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Engraved on the north face of the monument is: THEIR NAMES ARE BORNE ON HONOR'S SHIELD - THEIR RECORD IS WITH GOD.
Z. SITEK / KUAF
