Essay: Confederate monument remembering local dead is a piece of Virginia Beach and Princess Anne County history we should preserve

VIRGINIA BEACH — With all the controversy surrounding our Confederate monuments as of late, I would like to enlighten you with a little history about the Confederate monument right here in Virginia Beach and the former Princess Anne County. 

I share this in the hope that it will help us understand the history that our monument and ones like it represent so we can protect these monuments for future generations.

The story of the monument has its roots in the Civil War, but it began in earnest in the spring of 1900 – still generations before our modern city – with a former Confederate officer. John Thomas Woodhouse and his wife, Virginia Woodhouse, were selected to head a committee in search of a stone carver to begin work on a Confederate monument that was to be erected at the Princess Anne Courthouse in memory of the county’s Confederate dead. 

Sadly, Walsh died shortly after he began the carving for the Princess Anne monument. Walsh had two sons, Charles Richie Walsh and Everard Walsh, both renowned sculptors in their own right. Charles Richie Walsh would end up eventually completing the statue for the monument. 

All the while, the committee that was responsible for the erection of the monument was busy back in Princess Anne County petitioning the courts and appealing to its board of supervisors to appropriate no less than the sum of $500 from the county for the erection of said monument. On April 4, 1903, they indeed received the county’s approval. 

On Wednesday Oct. 19, 1904, Masons from Princess Anne County and Norfolk who were also Confederate veterans came together on the grounds of the Princess Anne Courthouse and began the laying of the pedestal upon which the statue was to be erected. 

A time capsule was placed in the cornerstone of the pedestal, according to a press account from the time. Items reportedly left there included rosters of the county’s Masonic lodge and the Princess Anne camps of the Confederate Veterans, Daughters of the Confederacy and Sons of Confederate Veterans – as well as for the Confederate Company G, 16th Virginia Infantry, organized by Woodhouse on April 17, 1861. Also deposited with the base were pictures, gloves, a newspaper from the time and Confederate bills and coins.

John J. Burroughs, or “Captain Jack,” spoke highly of his former comrades in arms. According to The Pilot’s account, he spoke of how the county received its name and complimented the committee on their work, an everlasting memorial to their Confederate dead. He characterized the soldiers of the Confederate Army as “unique figures in the history of the world.” Future generations, he declared, “will grow up to call the Confederate private blessed.” 

Burroughs closed with a tribute to the women of the Confederacy. 

“They were worthy companions of Lee and Jackson, Stewart and Mahone,” he said, according to The Pilot. “The soldiers were upheld on the wings of their hope and inspired by their encouraging sweet smiles. Without the women there would have been no Confederacy.”

His oration was “cheered to the echo,” the newspaper reported. 

There were several more orators that day, including the Rev. Dr. William M. Vines, pastor of the Freemason Street Baptist Church of Norfolk. He compared “Southern heroes with others in the world’s history … in generalship, in manhood and in piety,” The Pilot reported. He stated that “Lee, Jackson and a host of other Southern leaders were head and shoulders above” other historic leaders. 

It was also stated by one of the orators, Confederate Col. George C. Cabell, paraphrasing, “Greater love hath no man than this that he laid down his life for his country, and this the Southern soldier did.” 

The Pilot wrote the following headlines the next day, Nov. 16, 1905: “Confederate Monument Unveiled, with a rebel yell and three eloquent address, Princess Anne shaft was formally dedicated.” There were no protests or complaints that day, just tears of joy knowing that their Confederate dead had finally been honored. 

You have to ask yourself where has this country come in the past twelve or so years? There are laws that protect these monuments, and are listed under Virginia Code 15.2-1812. Until these laws are changed, it is illegal to damage, deface or remove these war monuments dedicated to the Southern soldier. Please, let’s try to respect the law. We are a civil society, and we need to act accordingly. 

These monuments – not just here in Virginia Beach, but throughout the entire South – weren’t erected to intimidate or insult anyone. They weren’t erected as signs of racism or hate towards anyone. They were erected for one reason and one reason only – to honor the South’s Confederate dead.

Thousands of soldiers perished on the battlefields and were buried where they fell, some in mass graves. These monuments — including the ones in the North honoring the Union soldiers — represent closure to the many families that never saw the return of their loved ones and who never received a proper funeral.

Harris is a lifelong resident of Princess Anne County, now Virginia Beach, and he has specialized in historic research about the Civil War and its impact on the county. He is the recipient of the Military Order of the Stars & Bars Literary Achievement Award and the United Daughters of the Confederacy’s Jefferson Davis Historical Gold Medal Award, among other awards for his book Princess Anne County, Virginia: Its Contributions and Sacrifices to the War Between the States and efforts to preserve history. He regularly speaks and gives lectures about the war and its impact on the county.

© 2017 Pungo Publishing Co., LLC/Used with permission