The Confederate Memorial in Mayfield is a commemorative monument and

fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or Spring (hydrology), spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. ...

located on the courthouse lawn in downtown

Mayfield, Kentucky Mayfield is a home rule–class city and the county seat of Graves County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 10,017 as of the 2020 United States Census. History 19th century Mayfield is in the center of the Jackson Purchase, an eig ...

. Mayfield, Ky.
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Mayfield

Mayfield during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

was very supportive of the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

. Representatives from seven western Kentucky counties and twenty western Tennessee counties met at Mayfield in May 1861 to discuss forming a new state that would join the Confederacy. The secession of Tennessee on June 8, 1861, caused the proposal to be abandoned, In 1864 Union forces occupied the town and forced the townspeople to help fortify the courthouse, which was destroyed later that year. The courthouse behind the memorial fountain was built in 1889.

Description

Mayfield's

United Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, ...

obtained the fountain in 1917 from the McNeal Marble Company in

Marietta, Georgia Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Cobb County, Georgia, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 60,972. The 2019 estimate was 60,867, making it one of Atlanta's largest suburbs. Marietta is the fourth largest ...

at the cost of $1,650. (). The fountain, which no longer emits

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

, is a

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...

with wings that double as benches. On the end of the wings are light posts that are eight feet away from the center obelisk; the northern post is inscribed 1861, and the southern post 1865. The center obelisk has three different Confederate flags in copper relief on its top.Brent, Joseph. ''Confederate Memorial in Mayfield NRHP Nomination Form'' (Kentucky Heritage Council, 1997) p.1

National Register of Historic Places

On July 17, 1997, it was one of sixty-one different monuments to the Civil War in Kentucky placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, as part of the Civil War Monuments of Kentucky

Multiple Property Submission The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of Historic districts in the United States, districts, sites, buildings, struc ...

. One other monument on the list, the

Confederate Memorial Gates in Mayfield The Confederate Memorial Gates in Mayfield are historical monuments at the entrances to Maplewood Cemetery in Mayfield, Kentucky. The monuments were the second monument in Mayfield established by the United Daughters of the Confederacy; the first ...

, is nearby in Maplewood Cemetery, north of downtown Mayfield. Other monuments on the list that are also fountains are the

Confederate Monument of Cadiz The Confederate Monument, in Cadiz, Kentucky, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. A marble memorial to the Confederate veterans of Trigg County it was erected in 1913 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The m ...

and the

Confederate Memorial Fountain in Hopkinsville The Confederate Memorial Fountain in Hopkinsville, Kentucky is a monument dedicated in October 1911. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. During the war, Nathan Bedford Forrest made his winter headquarters at Hopkinsville in 1861&n ...

References

{{American Civil War monuments in Kentucky 1920 sculptures Civil War Monuments of Kentucky MPS Fountains in Kentucky National Register of Historic Places in Graves County, Kentucky Obelisks in the United States United Daughters of the Confederacy monuments and memorials in Kentucky 1920 establishments in Kentucky