The Confederate Monument
In 1864,
Union General McCook’s cavalry troops captured around 400
Confederates in Fayetteville, burned wagons, and
slaughtered over 800 mules. Confederate General Joseph
Wheeler led his own cavalry to free the prisoners at the
Battle of Brown's Mill. A Confederate monument recognizing
the Confederate soldiers who fought for the South was
erected on April 26, 1934 and still stands on the
Fayetteville courthouse lawn.
As a child I never knew what the monument stood for and I
thought someone might be buried there. I had a close
encounter with it in the early 1940’s.
My father was in the army and at the time was overseas.
Mother worked as a telephone operator in the telephone
office located in a house where the east wing of the
Fayetteville Methodist Church stands today.
On this particular day Mother was working the afternoon
shift which concluded around 9 o’clock in the evening.
Since she would be so late getting home, I was with her at
the telephone office. It had been raining all evening.
We had a 1934 or 35 Chevrolet. Often in wet weather it
would not crank and we would have to push it off. We always
parked it at home facing down hill so we could start it in
rainy weather.
When we left the office to go home that night the car would
not start. Mother went back in and called for help. The
only place she could find help was at the Gulf Station
located on the corner of Railroad Street and Highway 54.
One of the young Graves boys came in an automobile to push
us off. It was still raining cats and dogs.
He stationed his automobile behind Mother’s car and started
pushing. Being a young boy, he decided to have some fun
with us and we went racing down Highway 54 toward the
courthouse at a high speed. There was a dim street light at
the corner of Highway 54 and 85 where we were to turn
south. Highway 85 was not paved at that time and the rain
made it difficult to see. Mother, excited by the speed and
having difficulty seeing, turned too quickly and we landed
next to the Confederate Monument on the courthouse square.
The wheels were mired up to the hub caps. The boy
apologized and Mother dismissed him with a few angry words.
Fortunately for us, Seawright’s Drugstore was still open so
we walked over there to get help. The drugstore was also
the bus station for one of the bus lines (Trailways, I
believe). The bus driver agreed to use the bus to pull us
out. There were no cars on the roads so he drove the bus
perpendicular to Highway 54 with the back of the bus facing
the courthouse. With a large chain connected to the rear
axle of our car, he pulled it out on the road. In spite of
Mother’s insistence he would not accept any pay.
Monuments are meant to honor special events and special
people in our history. The Confederate Monument on the
courthouse square will always remind me of that kind bus
driver who pulled our car out of the muck that rainy night
in Fayetteville.