Lonoke Confederate Monument

The Lonoke Confederate Monument is located on the southwest lawn of the Lonoke County Courthouse. A six-foot-tall marble sculpture of a Confederate soldier tops a rectangular shaft mounted upon a large base. The monument was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 3, 1996. Its inclusion is based on Criterion A for statewide significance and Criterion F for commemorative properties.

Most of the funding, $1,500, for construction of the monument was provided by the T. C. Hindman Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). The chapter secured an additional $500 from the Lonoke County Quorum Court.

Dedication of the monument took place on October 20, 1910. Ceremonies began with Mayor Jack Gates leading a Little Rock (Pulaski County) marching band, a group of 400 local students, and a group of veterans down the streets of Lonoke (Lonoke County) to the monument. After the playing and singing of “Dixie,” Gates welcomed those in attendance. Annie Gatewood presented the monument to the veterans on behalf of the UDC, and Judge George Sibley delivered an acceptance speech. Prior to a post-dedication luncheon, speeches were delivered by Congressman Joseph T. Robinson and the Honorable Will Steele of Texarkana (Miller County).

The Georgia marble monument is typical of those erected throughout Arkansas and other southern states in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The marble shaft is topped with a life-sized figure of a Confederate soldier in full uniform and equipment. Resting on his rifle, he stands in front of a tree stump.

The front base of the monument, which faces to the west and toward Highway 31, bears inscribed, crossed Confederate flags shown between the years of the war, 1861–1865, with the inscription below: “IN MEMORY OF OUR CONFEDERATE DEAD.” On the south base is the inscription: “LOVE MAKETH MEMORY ETERNAL.” The east base reads: “LONOKE COUNTY COMMENDS THE FAITHFULNESS OF HER SONS TO THE FUTURE GENERATIONS.” On the north base is written: “ERECTED BY THE T. C. HINDMAN CHAPTER UDC LONOKE, ARK.”

The monument has been cleaned and repaired, and an approximate two-foot-tall, three-sided brick wall was constructed around it.

For additional information:
“Lonoke Confederate Monument.” National Register of Historic Places nomination form. On file at Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, Arkansas. Online at http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/National-Register-Listings/PDF/LN0105S.nr.pdf (accessed November 9, 2020).

“Unveil Monument to Confederates.” Arkansas Gazette, October 21, 1910, p. 2.

Mike Polston
CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas