Academic

Monuments of Dinwiddie County

By Alfred Brophy

On the way back from AALS, I passed the Pentagon monument to 9/11 -- it's the first time I'd seen it.  Incredibly impressive and beautiful in the November Sunday morning sun.   That put me in the mood for some monument gazing.

I stopped in Dinwiddie County -- just south of Petersburg.  It's where the Confederacy made its last stand, just days before Richmond fell.  I was first in search of Poplar Grove National Cemetery -- but it was an impromptu stop and, of course, I couldn't quite remember the way to it.  Though looking at the Petersburg Battlefield map I now see I was quite close.

Of course there's an antebellum courthouse in Dinwiddie -- and it has a Confederate monument put up in the first decade of the twentieth century (November 1907, I think.)  Because I was driving through in the morning, the sun was in the wrong position for getting a really good picture of the soldier.  But I thought I'd post it now, along with a picture of their antebellum courthouse.  Reminds me that I've got to get back to posting on antebellum buildings -- like law school buildings and courthouses -- as well as Confederate monuments.  I'm acquiring quite a backlog of pictures -- from Athens, Richmond, Chapel Hill, Pittsboro -- basically, all the best places.

But here's the interesting thing, there's another monument put up in 1972 near the early 20th century Confederate monument.  It's a monument, basically, to the "battle" fought there (purporting to be the last victory of the Confederacy's Army of Northern Virginia, though it doesn't sound like it was much of a battle)  -- but this one honors both United States and Confederate States soldiers.  I've copied a photograph of it below.  Click on the monument's image to pull up a larger picture, where you can read the text.

And as long as I'm posting about Dinwiddie, I might as well post a picture of their antebellum courthouse (no longer used as a courthouse).  Again, I was somewhat hampered by the sun, so I couldn't get a good image of the front -- but I hope you might enjoy this side view.  I guess it looks a little less antebellum (it was build around 1851) with that pick up truck in the background, huh?

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on November 30, 2009 (boomark / email).