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The Monument to Women of the Confederacy in Springfield's Confederate Park
Thousands of
elderly Confederate veterans camped in tents in Springfield Park and
Dignan Park on May 6-8, 1914 as part of the 24th annual United
Confederate Veterans Reunion. (See video)
The city later commemorated this event by changing the name from Dignan
to Confederate Park on October 15, 1914.
Recorded in the handwritten minutes of the Springfield Improvement Association and Woman's Club two years earlier: Dr. Williams from the United Confederate Veterans approached the club to support a memorial association to erect a monument to commemorate the women of the Southland. Later in April of 1912 the minutes record that May Mann Jennings, President of the Springfield Improvement Association and Woman's Club, wrote a letter to this memorial association asking that the statue be placed in a Dignan Park, and later it was written that this wish was granted.
The sculptor chosen for the project was Allen George
Newman (1875-1940), a noted artist from New York. Although Newman was a
Yankee, he was one of the nation's leading sculptors of the
time, and his selection reveals the committee's desire to get the most
prestigious artist possible for the memorial. Newman created many
monumental patriotic memorials throughout the US. including
“The
Triumph of Peace” (Atlanta); monuments to Henry Hudson (New York),
General Sheridan (Scranton, PA), Joel Chandler Harris (Altanta);
the figures “Day” and “Night” at Harriman
National Bank (New York); the statues of General Oates (Montgomery, AL)
and General Stirling Price (Keytesville, MO); and the monumental
figures in the North Façade of Exhibit Palaces at the 1915
Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. His two
most famous statues are the World War I soldier, “The Doughboy”
(1920-1921) and the Spanish-American War soldier, “The Hiker” (1904), casts of
which were reproduced in several cities across America.
Our monument in Confederate Park, which features two large bronze sculptures, is among Newman's finest and most complex works, and it is one of Jacksonville's great art treasures.
Allen Newman called the statue seated in the rotunda "The Woman of the Southland", and she is embracing two children. On the face of the rotunda are carved the words “A Tribute to the Women of the Southern Confederacy.” Standing atop of the dome is another female figure, this one in a heroic pose and holding a Confederate flag.
Some see striking similarities in Allen Newman's statue of the
Woman of the Southland to the composition of Michelangelo's Pieta.
An original sketch for the monument featured a grossly out-of-scale figure on the top,
replaced in the final version with Newman's graceful but heroic Southern woman.
In 2007 the Springfield Improvement Association and Woman's Club undertook the restoration of the Monument to Women of the Confederacy, which is nearing completion. Sculptor Joe Segal has supervised the cleaning of the statues, and Pedroni's Cast Stone is doing the restoration of the marble and granite stonework.
Recorded in the handwritten minutes of the Springfield Improvement Association and Woman's Club two years earlier: Dr. Williams from the United Confederate Veterans approached the club to support a memorial association to erect a monument to commemorate the women of the Southland. Later in April of 1912 the minutes record that May Mann Jennings, President of the Springfield Improvement Association and Woman's Club, wrote a letter to this memorial association asking that the statue be placed in a Dignan Park, and later it was written that this wish was granted.
The sculptor chosen for the project was Allen George
Newman (1875-1940), a noted artist from New York. Although Newman was a
Yankee, he was one of the nation's leading sculptors of the
time, and his selection reveals the committee's desire to get the most
prestigious artist possible for the memorial. Newman created many
monumental patriotic memorials throughout the US. including
“The
Triumph of Peace” (Atlanta); monuments to Henry Hudson (New York),
General Sheridan (Scranton, PA), Joel Chandler Harris (Altanta);
the figures “Day” and “Night” at Harriman
National Bank (New York); the statues of General Oates (Montgomery, AL)
and General Stirling Price (Keytesville, MO); and the monumental
figures in the North Façade of Exhibit Palaces at the 1915
Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. His two
most famous statues are the World War I soldier, “The Doughboy”
(1920-1921) and the Spanish-American War soldier, “The Hiker” (1904), casts of
which were reproduced in several cities across America.Our monument in Confederate Park, which features two large bronze sculptures, is among Newman's finest and most complex works, and it is one of Jacksonville's great art treasures.
Allen Newman called the statue seated in the rotunda "The Woman of the Southland", and she is embracing two children. On the face of the rotunda are carved the words “A Tribute to the Women of the Southern Confederacy.” Standing atop of the dome is another female figure, this one in a heroic pose and holding a Confederate flag.
Some see striking similarities in Allen Newman's statue of the
Woman of the Southland to the composition of Michelangelo's Pieta.
An original sketch for the monument featured a grossly out-of-scale figure on the top,
replaced in the final version with Newman's graceful but heroic Southern woman.
In 2007 the Springfield Improvement Association and Woman's Club undertook the restoration of the Monument to Women of the Confederacy, which is nearing completion. Sculptor Joe Segal has supervised the cleaning of the statues, and Pedroni's Cast Stone is doing the restoration of the marble and granite stonework.
Above photos show the poor condition of the sculptures before restoration, and the photo below shows the beautiful finished work.
And here are two more Mystery Photos:
The first shows a competing sculptor's submission for the "Confederate Women's Memorial Monument," which was proposed for Riverside Park and, obviously, was never built.
The second shows the Monument to Women of the Confederacy in Confederate Park, apparently before the dome and upper sculpture were added:
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