The American Civil War stands as perhaps the darkest moment in the nation's history. The death toll of almost 700,000 marks the deadliest conflict in U.S. history, with brother standing against brother for four long and bloody years. By the time the Confederacy was defeated in 1865, more than 1/5th of the white men of military age in the South had perished during the war.
Even in defeat, it's understandable that survivors would want monuments to remember those whom they lost. However, problems can arise when a tribute also carries a message of intimidation and control. A federal lawsuit looks to address that issue with a Confederate statue by a courthouse in Columbia, North Carolina, that carries the inscription "IN APPRECIATION OF OUR FAITHFUL SLAVES." While not specifically seeking financial damages, the group of plaintiffs who filed as the Concerned Citizens of Tyrrell County wishes to have the statue and its racially discriminatory phrase removed.
However, the Tyrrell County Board of Commissioners insists that its hands are tied by the controversial 2015 North Carolina state law that forbids the removal or alteration of any historic monument. Its attempt to have the case dismissed due to legislative immunity was not granted, allowing the case to move forward.
Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory
The American Civil War pitted the Union against the southern states that seceded to form the Confederacy. The driving issue for the split and the ensuing conflict was slavery. While the northern states had either already abolished slavery or were under timelines to do so, the eleven states that would become the Confederacy had no interest in ending slavery. In addition, they were concerned that a prohibition on slavery in newly forming states in the West would doom the practice.
The war began in 1861 with the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter. Four years later, General Robert E. Lee surrendered on behalf of the Confederacy to General Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse, ending the brutal conflict. With President Lincoln having made slaves in the Confederate states free by the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment, the social and economic structure of the southern states was forever changed.
While Reconstruction was intended to create a South without slavery, stopping racism, discrimination, and violence was an even tougher task. Given the number of lives lost during the rebellion, it's not surprising that monuments to the lost were erected in the South through the 1880s, often through ladies' memorial associations.
The tenor began to change during the Jim Crow Era, which shifted to monuments showing victorious or dominant stances and lasted into the 1930s. Viewed as a means for promoting intolerance and control, this included the statue next to the courthouse in Columbia, erected in 1902. The head of the association that gifted it to Tyrrell County was a former Confederate officer from a slave-owning family.
The statue features a Confederate soldier standing on a pedestal emblazoned "THE CONFEDERATE CAUSE." Several similar statues would later be placed in North Carolina, but none had "IN APPRECIATION OF OUR FAITHFUL SLAVES" inscribed. The Columbia statue's message attempts to portray the relationship between slavers and the enslaved in a positive light, one that greatly minimizes the suffering of the enslaved.
Several current and former residents felt that having a statement like that close to a functioning courthouse undermined the concept of "justice for all." After learning that Tyrrell County maintained the statue, they asked for it to be removed.
Nobody Is Going To Forget About the Civil War
While some see the removal of monuments glorifying the Confederacy as part of an ongoing healing process, others view it as an "erasing" of history. With that in mind, North Carolina passed a law in 2015 that forbade the removal or alteration of any "object of remembrance" from public property without the approval of the North Carolina Historical Commission. Attempts have been made to repeal it, but as of 2025, the law is still in place.
When the county cited the law as reasoning for why they couldn't remove or alter the statue, the plaintiffs responded by filing a lawsuit in 2024. Claiming violations of their Fourteenth Amendment rights, the plaintiffs sued the Tyrrell County Board of Commissioners to have the statue removed.
Some of the plaintiffs are direct descendants of the "FAITHFUL SLAVES" alluded to on the statue, but it's unlikely they feel appreciated by the sentiment it offers. While a solution such as cementing over the offending passage might offer a simple and mutually acceptable resolution, for now, it's going to be hashed out in a courtroom. Hopefully, it'll be one without a statue with a racially discriminatory saying located right outside.
Related Resources
- Race Discrimination: U.S. Supreme Court Cases (FindLaw's Know Your Civil Rights and Legal Protections)
- What Is Discrimination? (FindLaw's Civil Rights Law)
- School Bus Driver Fired for Confederate Flag (FindLaw's Law and Daily Life)
