Above is the route – the blue route is the standard route which is approximately one mile long. The red route is an extended route that takes you a bit further, adding approximately one additional mile.

Introduction

This tour is designed to guide you through monuments in the Augusta area that are in some way related to the Civil War and the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. It’s designed presuming that you’re starting at the Morris Museum of Art, where I have a temporary exhibition on display on a related subject matter. If you’re finding this after that time – Spring of 2023 – then you can see the expanded digital version of my exhibit at AugustaMonuments.com/Exhibit. This tour is designed as a walking tour through downtown Augusta, leading from the Morris Museum, across the RiverWalk Park, onto Broad Street, and back to the Morris. The route I have designed is about a mile long. I recognize that not everyone is willing or able to walk that distance. All of the points discussed in this tour, except for the installations along the RiverWalk Park are easily viewable from a vehicle, so you are of course free to drive from point to point.

The route is viewable at AugustaMonuments.com/WalkingTour. Here you can see a list of points and their addresses, read descriptions of the monuments and markers, and find audio versions of those descriptions. You can also download these onto your favorite podcast client if you prefer. This will enable you to download the recordings in advance. Each stop’s description will be listed as a stand-alone episode. This way you can listen to them, and visit them, in any order you please.  I’ve provided a route in an order that I think makes sense logistically. You can download the route from the website.

This tour takes you through downtown Augusta to examine some monuments and markers in our public spaces. I provide analysis and description of several markers. The entirety of this tour takes place out in the world, in an uncontrolled environment. I encourage you to be aware, and to use your best judgment when interacting with the world. And be kind to any people you encounter. The route I’ve designed leads you to street crossings that have crosswalks, and I encourage you to use them. In addition to the points my tour is intended to discuss, other monuments and public installations will be visible. The tour takes you past the Augusta Cotton Exchange Building and a marker to Eli Whitney – Whitney’s first cotton gin was put into operation here in the Augusta area.

Let’s get started with the tour – be alert and be aware when out for your walk. Hopefully the weather is as nice for you as it was the first day I thought about creating this tour and went out exploring routes. As a last note, I encourage you to note the prominence and scale of various monuments by which this tour will take you– not just the ones I’m highlighting, but all the monuments and markers you may see. Consider their placement and scale. Examine them critically and comparatively. Think about what the people who erected were trying to communicate to viewers. Enjoy the walk.

Flags along Riverwalk Park

Directions & Maps:

The first Installation is between the Morris & The Marriott. Stop 1a on the map at the top of the page. If you walk out the doors of the second floor at the Morris and turn right, you are now heading towards these flags on the Riverwalk.

The second installation is at the Riverwalk Park at Eighth Street. Stop 1b on the map at the top of the page.The flags are flying just past the stairs that take you down to eighth street near the 2nd City Distillery. There is a plaque, titled “The Flags,” describing each flag in a planter that sits midway between the Bonnie Blue and Georgia Secession flags at eighth street.

Riverwalk Park has numerous flags on display. The intent of the display is to highlight the various flags that flew over Augusta throughout history. These flags pickup in the colonial era with flags of colonial France, Spain, and England. There are also several early American flags. This display also includes several Confederate flags. One flagpole was previously flying the First National Flag of the Confederacy, although this was taken down at some point and replaced with the current flag of the State of Georgia – which just happens to be identical to the flag that it replaced save for the seal of the state of Georgia flying in the top left corner. One such flag flies immediately outside the Morris, with its marker on the ground still indicating that it is a Confederate flag – there is some evidence that this marker had something placed over it that has since been removed or fallen away.

Bonnie Blue Flag

Viewable at each of Stop 1a & 1b on the route at the top of the page. It’s the blue one with a white star.

This flag is also known as the flag of the Republic of West Florida. The Republic of West Florida was a republic that lasted for less than three months after the region claimed independence from Spanish rule before being annexed into the United States. This occurred in the fall of 1810. The Bonnie Blue flag was also associated with the Texas independence movement. During the Civil War, the flag returned to prominence when it became a sort of unofficial “national” flag of the Confederacy in the early months of the war. The Bonnie Blue flew over Confederate batteries as they fired on United States military personnel at Fort Sumpter. Aside from its time as a pseudo-official flag of the Confederacy, the Bonnie Blue became the title of a popular wartime marching song. This flag flies immediately between the Morris and the Marriot, as well as again further downriver. At its base, the inscription reads “Bonnie Blue Flag Jan 19, 1861- Feb 8, 1861.” This flag, as indicated by the dates below it, are roughly a period post-declaration of secession and pre-formation of the Confederate States of America under the provisional constitution.

Georgia Secession Flag

Viewable at each of Stop 1a & 1b on the route at the top of the page. It’s the white one with the red star.

This curious flag flies next to the Bonnie Blue immediately outside the Morris and again further downstream. This flag, a single red star in a field of white, is in the same vein as the Bonnie Blue – a lone star indicating a state’s willingness to “go it alone.”  The base of the flagpole has the inscription “State of Georgia Jan 19, 1861-Feb 8, 1861.” The first date is the date which Georgia officially attempted to secede, with the latter being the day after the adoption of the Confederate constitution, formally creating the provisional government of the Confederacy.

This flag is a replica of a flag which flew over the arsenal here in Augusta from the time of secessionist control over the arsenal until the provisional Confederate government was organized. An original version of this flag, along with more information about the arsenal and Augusta’s history during the war, is on view in the Augusta Museum of History. 

A note on these flags – it is of course curious that someone thought to remove the Confederate flag, replacing it with a state flag, while leaving up the Bonnie Blue Flag and the Georgia Secession flag. These flags aren’t necessarily widely known, but they do clearly state what they are at the base. If the Confederate flag was removed because of its inherent nature as offensive, which it clearly was, then the Bonnie Blue and Secession flags should meet the same fate.

Optional Extension to the Jefferson Davis Memorial Bridge

Directions & Maps:

Shown in the route above in red, this optional extension takes you to the Jefferson Davis Memorial Bridge. Doing so adds approximately one mile to the length of the walk, for a total of about 2.2 miles. The Bridge is marked on the map with a red pin labeled “optional stop – Jefferson Davis Memorial Bridge.”

The Jefferson Davis Memorial Bridge at Fifth Street is accessible by continuing down the Riverwalk until it meets Fifth Street. There are plaques at both the Georgia and South Carolina side of the bridge that are roughly identical as well as an engraving at the center of the bridge. There are benches, shade structures, and water fountains available. There is also a store and restrooms nearby in the Riverwalk Marina gift shop.

This bridge was recently (fall of 2022) reopened as a pedestrian and bicycle-only facility. It is quite lovely, as you can see, with benches and shade structures. There are even two sculptures as part of an art walk – one called “soccer dude” and one called “ruthless,” which is the metal shark.  An enjoyable, modern, linear park out across the Savannah River, joining North Augusta and Augusta. This bridge is, however, also known as the Jefferson Davis Memorial Bridge. To understand why the troubling nature of this bridge goes deeper than just its name, I need to explain what occurred at this bridge in 1876.

On the Fourth of July in 1876, members of Company A, 18^th Regiment, South Carolina National Guard were accosted while parading and drilling. The National Guardsmen were Black. The men who accosted them were white, members of a local elite planter family. There are conflicting accounts of the specifics but eventually, a court hearing was called in a few days. Before the hearing could finish, armed members of a white supremacist, fascistic mob known as the Red Shirts arrived, demanding that the National Guardsmen surrender their weapons. Reports indicate that there were approximately 100 Red Shirts to some 30 National Guardsmen. The Guardsmen were pinned in their “arsenal,” which was really a storeroom that served as their meeting place. The Red Shirts opened fire on Company A; Company A returned fire. One Red Shirt, Thomas Meriwether, died – a gunshot wound to the head killed him instantly. This enraged the Red Shirts further as they laid siege to the arsenal. Running low on ammunition, severely outnumbered, and having learned that the Red Shirts were bringing a cannon from Augusta’s arsenal, the members of Company A began to slip out of their positions and flee. Two of these fleeing men were killed immediately. Throughout the subsequent evening and night, some two-dozen more Black men were captured by the Red Shirts. They were brought to the base of the bridge linking Augusta and Hamburg- in approximately the same location as this bridge on which we currently stand. The Red Shirts formed what was known as the “Dead Ring” from which they debated the fates of the men they held hostage, subsequently murdering several in cold blood. At least four men were murdered here, with others injured.

Ninety-four men were indicted for their roles in the attack, though none were ever prosecuted or tried. This event, known as the Hamburg Massacre, was the first in a wave of white supremacist violence that sought to reestablish white, conservative control over South Carolina. This event kicked off a campaign of violence in 1876 that saw the election of Wade Hampton, III, himself a former Confederate, to Governor of SC. This marked the end of Reconstruction in South Carolina

At the base of this bridge (on both the Georgia and Carolina side) are plaques, from the United Daughters of the Confederacy, dedicating the bridge in 1930s to Jefferson Davis, erstwhile president of the Confederacy.  In December of 2021, these plaques were absent – removed during the renovation project – only to be reinstalled in immaculate and shiny condition. A marble marker in the middle of the bridge also notes it as the Jefferson Davis Memorial Bridge. Actual taxpayer dollars went into refurbishing these portions of the bridge. If not removed, they could have easily been left in their previous condition. Instead, money was spent to refurbish them, including the installation of new lighting to increase their visibility.

Broad Street Confederate Monument

The Broad Street Monument is at approximately 735 Broad Street.

 This seventy-six-foot tall monument looms large over us, and over the Broad Street landscape. The buildings on either side of this monument are considerably younger than the monument. At the time of its construction, this monument towered over much of the cityscape. These trees were not yet planted. The monument stood by itself in the middle of the very broad street. Its place of prominence in the community at the time of its construction cannot be overstated.

At the top is a statue of an everyman soldier, modeled after Augustan Berry Benson, who famously never surrendered. Above each corner of the base are life-size statues of four Confederate generals, Stonewall Jackson, Thomas R. R. Cobb, William H. T. Walker, and Robert E. Lee. Each of these five men came from slaveholding families.

In the still rigidly patriarchal postbellum south, mourning the dead was considered women’s work. This monument, erected by the Ladies’ Memorial Association of Augusta, was custom-made from fine Italian Carrara marble with a granite base and cost over $17,000 when it was commissioned in 1875 – nearly $500,000 in today’s money. The majority of monuments across the American South were ordered out of catalogs and were relatively inexpensive creations from regional fabricators – a far cry from the high art and craftsmanship of a bespoke Italian creation.

This monument was at the bleeding edge of a shift in monument construction. In the first decades after the war, most monuments were erected in cemeteries or on battlefields and were generally earnest expressions of mourning and grief. Taking a more macro look, most Confederate monuments nationwide were constructed sometime after the 1890s as expressions of Jim Crow-era white supremacy and prioritized overtly supporting the Lost Cause instead of merely mourning. The Broad Street monument is an early example of a monument that shifts from mourning to lionization, coming decades before most other monuments that share its message and nature.  The base of the monument has a series of inscriptions glorifying the Confederacy and its cause.

Expressions of Black citizenship during Reconstruction, like celebratory parades for New Year’s Day or the Fourth of July, had agitated many white Augustans who were eager to reclaim public spaces as Reconstruction failed. More than ten thousand people, a full third of the county’s population at the time, attended the dedication festivities in 1878. Stonewall Jackson’s widow was a guest of honor at the dedication. The headlining oration of the dedication, given by former Confederate officer Charles Jones, Jr., was unapologetic and brazen in lauding the cause for which Confederates had fought:

“with rapturous joy do we bail the dedication of this goodly monument. With kindling hearts do we respond to the inspirations and the memories which its presence bespeaks. We glory in the rectitude of the cause, and exult in the valor of the men symbolized by its towering form and martial outlines.”

“For the past we have no apologies to offer, no excuses to render, no regrets to nitter, save that we failed in our high endeavor; no tears to shed except over withered hopes and the graves of our departed worthies. We yielded in the end because we were overborne by superior numbers and weightier munitions. Any pledges given will be by us duly observed; but it is well known, alike by friend and stranger, that nothing has been absolutely determined except the question of comparative strength. The issue furnished only a physical solution of the moral, social, and political propositions involved in the gigantic struggle. The sword never does, and never can compass other than a forcible arbitrament in matters of conscience, principle, and inalienable right. Even now the fundamental claims, the political privileges, and the vested rights in support of which the Southern people expended their blood and treasure, are, in a moral point of view, unaffected by the result of the contest.”

Excerpt from dedication speeches given by Charles Jones, Jr.in 1878

This monument was erected to celebrate a cause to which white supremacy was central. The leaders of the Confederate cause were clear in this with their words and with their actions. The people who funded this monument were clear when constructing it that they felt the same way as those who had fought for the cause. Their words are available in plain English to corroborate this conclusion. The people of Augusta today are not responsible for the harm caused by the monument’s makers. But every day that the monument continues to exist in its current form and current place contributes new harm, stacking further indignities on the wrongs of the past. We, as a community of citizens, are party to this ongoing harm if we do nothing about it. Silence on the matter is complicity and is a tacit endorsement of the principles the monument memorializes.