Confederate Monument - Augusta

Standing in a park in the middle of the 700 block of Broad Street in downtown Augusta, the Confederate Monument soars 76 feet tall. It has a granite base topped by a shaft of pure Italian marble. The monument was commissioned by the Ladies Memorial Association of Augusta in 1875 at the cost of $17,331.35, a princely sum at that time.

Around the base of the monument are the life-size statues of four Southern generals in the War Between the States: Thomas R. R. Cobb, Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and William Henry Talbot. A Confederate private is depicted at the top of the shaft. The model for this statue was Private Berry Benson of Augusta. An inscription at the base reads, "In honor of the men of Richmond County who died in the cause of the Confederate States." A crowd of 10,000 people turned out for the dedication of the monument on Oct. 32, 1878.