The Confederate Memorial of the Wind is a nearly completed memorial to 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 ...

and the Texas regiments of the Confederate Army. It began construction on private land in 2013 in

Orange, Texas Orange is a city and the county seat of Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 19,324. It is the easternmost city in Texas, located on the Sabine River at the border with Louisiana, and is from Hous ...

, near the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area. The memorial is on private land adjacent to Interstate 10 on Martin Luther King Jr Drive. It has 13 columns arranged in a circle, one for each Confederate state. It will display 32 flags representing

U.S. Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states t ...

units from Texas, along with eight large Confederate flags visible from the highway. The project is sponsored by the Texas Division of the

Sons of Confederate Veterans The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is an American neo-Confederate nonprofit organization of male descendants of Confederate soldiers that commemorates these ancestors, funds and dedicates monuments to them, and promotes the pseudohis ...

. Proponents, led by Granvel Block, say the project will honor Civil War veterans and educate visitors on history, and say that the location was chosen for low cost. Opponents have condemned the memorial because of its connection to an effort to maintain slavery, and because they say its location is provocative, on Martin Luther King Jr Drive. The ''

Beaumont Enterprise ''The Beaumont Enterprise'' is a newspaper of Hearst Communications, headquartered in Beaumont, Texas. It has been in operation since 1880. In addition to BeaumontEnterprise.com and the daily newspaper, ''The Enterprise'' produces several weeklie ...

'' reported that the monument faced wide opposition from local residents and city council, which had no legal tools to stop construction. The city approved the plan on

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...

grounds. Donations are solicited in exchange for memorial plaques and paving bricks. No date is set for its completion, which depends on funding. The original budget was $50,000. By 2015, the site had already received enough visitors to cause parking congestion in the neighborhood. The incomplete project has been the subject of protests seeking to change its plans.(11 November 2018)
Man caught on video berating, cursing couple protesting Confederate monument in Orange Saturday
''12 News Now''

References

{{reflist, 2 Confederate States of America monuments and memorials in Texas Buildings and structures in Orange County, Texas Sons of Confederate Veterans Unfinished sculptures