Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection open for research.

Use Restrictions

No physical characteristics affect use of this material.

Preferred Citation

Leesburg Confederate Memorial Postcard(VC 0081), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.

Acquisition Information

Jane N. Scott, Culpeper, VA

Alternative Form Available

None

Accruals

2016.0074X

Processing Information

Processed by Caroline Kessler, 24 August 2016

Historical Information

The Confederate Monument of Leesburg was unveiled on 28 May 1908. The bronze statue portrays a Confederate soldier wielding a rifle and stands outside the Leesburg Courthouse. The Loudoun Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy funded the project and hired sculptor Frederick William Sievers (1872-1966) to design the statue. Sievers was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, then educated in both Atlanta, Georgia and Richmond, Virginia before studying at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and the Academie Julian in Paris. After returning to the US in 1902, he was first commissioned for the Confederate Memorial in Elmira, New York in 1906 before undertaking the Leesburg memorial. In 1910, Sievers was chosen to design the Virginia Memorial at Gettysburg. In 1917, he returned to Richmond, where he remained for the rest of his life.

Elijah V. White, Jr. unveiled the statue on 28 May 1908, assisted by Mary H. Keeler, Hannah B. McIntosh, and Thomas F. Carruthers, who represented the Middleburg, Loudoun, and Blue Ridge Chapters of the Daughters of the Confederacy, respectively. White (1899-1965) attended Virginia Military institute and married Mary White. In 1924, Mary K. Keeler (1900-1984) married Edwin C. Reamer, who later became mayor of Middleburg during the 1960s. Hannah B. McIntosh (fl. 1899-1923) married James Gasquet Di Zerega in 1923. Thomas Carruthers (1901-1983) was raised in Mount Gilead, Virginia before being drafted to serve in World War I. After the war, he moved to Charlottesville, where he attended the University of Virginia. He remained in Charlottesville, worked as a business manager, and married Mabel O. Carruthers.

The Confederate Monument became a point of controversy in July of 2015, in response to the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church shooting in Charleston, SC. The NAACP held a rally on 18 July 2015 to protest the statue.

Scope and Content

The collection contains one postcard featuring a photograph of four children identified as E. V. White, Jr., Hannah B. McIntosh, Thos. Carruthers, Mary K. Keeler. These individuals unveiled the Leesburg Confederate Memorial on 28 May 1908. R. Bruce Cgden published the postcard. The item was gifted to the Thomas Balch Library by Jane N. Scott, whose father, Edward Cole Norman (1907-1998) of Longmoor Farm, was a first cousin of Mary K. Keeler.

Related Material

Leesburg Confederate Monument Collection (SC 0042), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA; Civil War Monument (VF 001), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA; Historical Postcards, 1900-2008 (VC 0004), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA; Loudoun County Courthouse Records (M 092) Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA

Adjunct Descriptive Data

Bibliography

Ancestry, www.ancestrylibrary.com, accessed 24 August 2016.

Gibson, Caitlin. "Confederate Statue in Leesburg Prompts NAACP to Plan Rally." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 9 July 2015. Web. 24 Aug. 2016.

Leesburg Confederate Monument Collection (SC 0042), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.

Poland, Charles P. Jr. From Frontier to Suburbia. Missouri: Walsworth Publishing, 1976.

Other Finding Aid

Past Perfect catalogue records

Technical Requirements

None