Union Civil War Statue Disappears

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The statue of a Union soldier was once located on the south-
western corner of 5th Avenue and 9th Street in Huntington.
The statue stood above a public drinking fountain, across the
street from Hansford Watts' Fifth Avenue Hotel, and in front
of Carnegie Public Library.

Although sources vary, it appears that the statue was Vandal-
ized and removed in 1915 which was around the time that
Confederate Sympathizers announced plans to create a
monument to Southern soldiers.

In 1915, a group of residents with Southern affinities announced
their intention to erect a statue of a Confederate soldier in
Ritter Park. The group hoped to win support for their plan
among residents-most of whom observed a tradition of
silence about the memory of a war that had divided residents
throughout the region-by "balancing" the park's interpretation
by moving the statue of the Union soldier to Ritter Park
as well.

This plan upset many residents who hoped to avoid controversy,
especially those who remembered the action of Confederate
raiders and were proud of the state's allegiance to the Union.
From the perspective of these residents, erecting a statue
of a Confederate soldier "would be discreditable  to the
Union cause".

As locals debated the issue, a number of conflicts erupted.
The ensuing controversy came to a head when residents found
that the Union statue had disappeared. Some residents reported
they had seen men loading the statue on a wagon, but did not
report the occurrence because they assumed that the men
were moving the statue to Ritter Park. To this date, no one
knows the fate of the Union Soldier.

Several other Union  monuments disappeared throughout the
state. As a result, there are more Confederate monuments in
the state than Union. Because West Virginia was created in
opposition to secession, the creation of pro-Confederate
monuments in the early 20th century and the simultaneous
destruction of Union memorials illustrates how historical
interpretation are often contentious.

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