The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.

Monday, April 5, 2010

145th Battle of Bentonville, Good, But...-- Part 6

From the March 20th SCV Blog.

As we were leaving, I noticed a statue gleaming in the sunlight along with a lot of different Confederate flags hoisted on high. This area was fenced off from the state site, but there were a lot of people looking at it and standing around in the vicinity.

It turns out that this was a statue of Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston and the statue had just recently been put in place. The Smithfield Light Infantry SCV (Sons of Confederate Veterans) Camp had gotten an adjacent property owner to donate land and had raised $100,000 to pay for it. It had just been installed on the Tuesday, March 23rd.

Sculptor Carl Rigutti of Cary asked Craig Braswell to model for it. He goes around portraying Johnston and has a remarkable likeness to him.

The 400 pound bronze statue is on a slab of granite and it is believed that even those who do not share Southern heritage and might want to damage or tale the statue won't have much of a chance to do so.

The statue evidently was placed on private property because of problems with the state people at Bentonville. This way, the state has nothing to say about it.

A Big Tip of the hat to the Smithfield Light Infantry for Rising Above and Beyond in Their Effort to Honor a Confederate Hero. --Old B-Runner

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