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The Denton Confederate Soldier Monument was an outdoor Confederate memorial installed in downtown Denton, Texas, in the United States.[1]

Denton Confederate Soldier Monument
The monument c. 2000
Completion date	1918
Location	Denton, Texas, United States
Coordinates	33.2146°N 97.1331°W / 33.2146; -97.1331

Description

The statue depicts an armed Confederate soldier standing on an arch with the inscription, "Our Confederate Soldiers".^{[citation needed]}

History

The monument was funded and erected in 1918 by the Katie Daffan Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.[2]

The courthouse behind where the monument had stood was named a Texas Historic Landmark in 1970, a National Historic Registry landmark in 1977, and a Texas State Archeological Landmark in 1981.[3][4]

Vandalism and removal

One local resident, Willie Hudspeth, has been working to remove the memorial since 2000.[5]

The monument was vandalized with the words "This Is Racist" in 2015.[6] On February 1, 2018, Denton County leaders voted 15–0 to keep the statue but add a plaque denouncing slavery and a video kiosk explaining the city's racial history and progress (which was never added or completed). On June 9, 2020, the Denton County Commissioners Court announced a plan to remove the statue from the Courthouse lawn to another location for conservation.[7]

On June 9, 2020, in the wake of the protests following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Denton County commissioners voted to remove the memorial.[8][9]

On the morning of June 25, 2020, removal of the statue began just before dawn.[10]

See also

• 1918 in art
• Confederate Monument (Fort Worth, Texas)
• List of Confederate monuments and memorials
• List of monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests

References

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