Whose Heritage Is It? - Dispatch #1: Baltimore, The Jackson & Lee Monument

Needed a road trip desperately, both myself and my truck!  I've only used 20 gallons of gas since March 12, 2020...  The South Poverty Law Center has a wonderful map as part of their "Whose Heritage?" project that identifies public monuments and memorials dedicated to glorifying the Confederacy.  Three of them were identified in Baltimore.  My beloved Baltimore--Road Trip!  Now, spoiler alert, NONE of the statuary associated with the monuments remains.  All were removed in the middle of night in 2017 during a previous wave of demands for social justice and cultural sensitivity/accountability.  Still, it was an adventure.

The Jackson & Lee Monument

Located in the little Wyman Park Dell across the street from the Baltimore Museum of Art and just north of the confluence of the Remington and Harwood neighborhoods.  It was commissioned as a gift to the city from J. Henry Ferguson.  Ferguson was a successful banker who organized the Colonial Trust Company, long ago defunct.  When Ferguson died in 1928, he bequeathed the money to the city to create the memorial.  Enter the Great Depression...things slowed down.  in 1935, Laura Gardin Fraser was selected as the designer of the sculpture portion of the monument, and architect John Russell Pope was tapped to design the plaza and pedestal.  Pope had designed the nearby Baltimore Art Museum.  Enter WW II....things slowed down again.  The project was finally complete 20 year's after Ferguson's death and was dedicated on May 1, 1948--a date that coincided with the Battle of Chancellorsville.  Chancellorsville is the setting of the moment memorialized in the theme of the sculpture.

Prior to it's removal, the statue was defaced with red paint.



The images are was the site looks like today.  There are several texts.

Circling the pedestal at its upper edge a statement reads: SO GREAT IS MY CONFIDENCE IN GENERAL LEE THAT I AM WILLING TO FOLLOW HIM BLINDFOLDED STRAIGHT AS A NEEDLE TO THE POLE - JACKSON ADVANCED TO THE EXECUTION OF MY PURPOSE

I assume that the first is a quote from Jackson and the latter a quote from Lee, though they are not credited.


At the front base a quote reads: THEY WERE GENERALS AND CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS AN WAGED WAR LIKE GENTLEMEN - Ferguson.  This quote is attributed to J. Henry Ferguson



On the south side of the base the text reads: THE PARTING OF GENERAL LEE AND STONEWALL JACKSON ON THE EVE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE

On the north side of the base the text reads: GIFT OF J. HENRY FERGUSON OF MARYLAND