The El Dorado Confederate Monument is located on the grounds of the Union County Courthouse in

El Dorado, Arkansas El Dorado, founded by Matthew Rainey, is a city in, and the county seat of, Union County, on the southern border of Arkansas, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 18,884. El Dorado is headquarters of the Ark ...

, near the corner of North Main and South Washington Streets. It consists of a statue of a

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

soldier in mid-stride, mounted on top of a temple-like structure supported by four cannon-shaped Ionic columns. The columns support a lintel structure bearing inscriptions on three sides, above which is a tiered roof with cannonballs at the corners. The temple structure is high, and square; the statue measures by by . Both the statue and the temple are constructed of gray/blue striated marble. The monument was built in 1910 at a cost of over $2,800, and was paid for by the local chapter of the

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, ...

. It is believed to be the first fountain-style Confederate monument in the South. The front (south) side of the monument is inscribed "CSA 1861 - 1865 / ERECTED BY THE HENRY G. BUNN CHAPTER / UNITED DAUGHTERS OF THE CONFEDERACY / 1909". The north side is inscribed "'TRUTH CRUSHED TO EARTH SHALL RISE AGAIN.' / 'EVEN DEATH CANNOT SEVER THE CORDS OF MEMORY.'" The western lintel reads "'IN HONOR OF THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS / OF UNION COUNTY, ARK.'". The eastern lintel has a pair of crossed swords on it. The monument was listed 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 ...

in 1996. It was included in the

El Dorado Commercial Historic District The El Dorado Commercial Historic District encompasses the historic commercial heart of downtown El Dorado, Arkansas. The city serves as the seat of Union County, and experienced a significant boom in growth during the 1920s, after oil was dis ...

in 2003. The statue was one of several monuments that became the center of controversy during the

2020 Black Lives Matter protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and Civil disorder, civil unrest against Police brutality in the United States, police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. Th ...

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures completed in 1910 Buildings and structures in El Dorado, Arkansas Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Arkansas Monuments and memorials on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas National Register of Historic Places in Union County, Arkansas Neoclassical architecture in Arkansas 1910 establishments in Arkansas United Daughters of the Confederacy monuments and memorials in Arkansas

See also

References