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Statues of Life and Death



In Athens, Alabama, two statues stand stoically as the years pass. One towers over life and the other over death. Their arrivals at their destinations include the lore of a sinking ship and disapproval of a bowed head.

First Statue. The tale began more than a century ago when the United Daughters of the Confederacy began raising the $1,250 necessary to order a statue from Italy. The group wanted to place the memorial on the Limestone County Courthouse lawn in remembrance of those who fought for the South in the War Between the States.



According to The Heritage of Limestone County, Alabama, the white marble soldier arrived in 1909, but at the unveiling on June 30 of that year, the soldier’s stance upset the city’s Confederate veterans. “They told the ladies that they liked the statue except for the fact that his hat was in his hand and his head was bowed,” said Jimmy Hill, lieutenant commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans’ Thomas H. Hobbs Camp in Athens. “The statue reminded them of someone who was whipped. They may have surrendered, but there was still plenty of pride and fight left in the old men.”



The seemingly defeated Rebel didn’t remain on the courthouse lawn. Although a statue cannot change its image, a creative city can change its perspective. When the city decided to pave the streets around the square, officials moved the soldier (above) to the city cemetery. There, in a circle of graves, he bows his head, not in defeat, but in respect and prayer for those Limestone County souls who died for the glorious Cause. Thus, he became the statue who towers over death. The stone beside which he stands reads:



C.S.A.



IN MEMORY OF

THE STRANGERS

WHO IN THE

BAPTISM OF OUR

SOIL WITH THEIR

HEROIC BLOOD

HAVE HONORED US.



LEST WE FORGET





Second Statue. The city decided the living shouldn’t forget the sacrifices of their ancestors during the War and a second statue was commissioned for the courthouse. Maclin Hobbs donated money for purchase of the second statue, but the amount wasn’t recorded. Despite rumors the statue was lost when the ill-fated Titanic sank, the second statue arrived safely in New York from Naples, Italy, according to a May 1912 edition of the Alabama Courier. It was the bill of lading, not the statue, that sank, the newspaper reported. However, the statue remained in New York until another bill of lading arrived.



When the statue arrived and took its place on the courthouse lawn (above), Confederate veterans were pleased. His hat rests firmly on his head, which is angled slightly upward as though he is staring into the distance – perhaps at an enemy only he can see. To this day, he towers over the living.



A commemorative historical marker on the courthouse lawn reads:



ATHENS SACKED AND PLUNDERED

_________________

On May 2, 1862, Union troops of the 19th and 24th Illinois and the 37th Indiana Regiments commanded by Col. John Basil Turchin went on a rampage through the town. They looted and plundered stores and homes, stealing clothing, jewelry and anything of value, destroying what they didn’t want. For months afterward, the soldiers stabled their horses in some of the town’s churches, burned the pews for firewood and destroyed the interiors. Col Turchin, born Ivan Vasillevich Turchinoff in Russia, was court-martialed in Huntsville for encouraging these actions, but his wife appealed to Abraham Lincoln for clemency on his behalf. Turchin was promoted to Brig Gen. one day before the court-martial.



Author: Graveyardbride.

Sources: Holly Hollman, The Decatur Daily; “The Rape of Athens, Alabama,” Confederate Digest, July 15, 2009; and The Athens Limestone Public Library.

