Silent Sam

In the chronology

Episodes in this history, in date order. Each has its own page.

Other events in this storyline, in date order. See these 25 dated events in the chronology →

1. May 10, 1905 The Leonidas Polk Chapter of the UDC holds Confederate memorial exercises On May 10, 1905, the Leonidas Polk Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy held memorial exercises in Gerrard Hall, reading the roll of students who had served in the Confederate army. Children and adults then carried flowers to decorate soldiers' graves in the village cemetery. People: Thomas Hume, Leonidas Polk Place: Gerrard HallDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 826
2. 1908 UNC trustees approve the United Daughters of the Confederacy's request to build a Confederate monument on the campus The board of trustees approved a request from the North Carolina Division of the UDC for a monument on the campus. President Francis P. Venable took part in the planning and fund-raising and later committed university money when UDC and alumni contributions fell short. People: Francis Preston Venable Place: Chapel HillUNC A to Z (UNC Press): Confederate Monument (Silent Sam)
3. 1910 John Wilson begins designing UNC's Confederate monument After the monument committee weighed competing designs, it chose Canadian sculptor John Wilson's design for the Confederate soldier statue planned for the UNC campus. Wilson began the work in 1910, using sixteen-year-old Harold Langlois of Boston as his model. People: John A. Wilson, Francis Preston Venable Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Harold Langlois, John WilsonSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Timeline (A Guide to Resources About UNC's Confederate Monument)
4. March 14, 1911 Bettie Jackson London publishes the design for the campus monument and appeals for the $7,500 Writing from Pittsboro as chairman of the UDC monument committee, Mrs. Henry A. London described the monument designed by the sculptor John Wilson, a soldier above a bronze tablet of the State calling a student from his books, and warned that the chapters had not met their pledges and the unveiling at the semicentennial commencement was in doubt. People: John A. Wilson Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Bettie Jackson London, John WilsonDigitalNC: The News and Observer (Raleigh), March 14, 1911, page 1
5. April 1, 1911 The Tar Heel reports the monument's unveiling put off from the 1911 commencement for want of funds The paper reported that the UDC chapters had been unable to fulfill their pledges toward the $7,500, so the monument could not be unveiled at the June 1911 commencement, the fiftieth anniversary of the war's beginning, and would certainly be unveiled in 1912. It was in fact dedicated in June 1913. People: John A. Wilson Place: Chapel HillThe Tar Heel, April 1, 1911, p. 1
6. June 2, 1913 UNC's Confederate Monument is dedicated On the second day of commencement Major H. A. London introduced Governor Craig; Mrs. London presented the monument to the trustees for the UDC, President Francis P. Venable accepted it for the university, and Julian S. Carr spoke for the students of 1861. Carr's speech, which praised the Confederate army and recounted his horsewhipping of a Black woman in the village in 1865, is the part now most remembered. People: Julian S. Carr, John A. Wilson, Locke Craig Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Bettie Jackson London, Francis P. VenableDigitalNC: The News and Observer (Raleigh), June 3, 1913, page 1
7. December 18, 1960 N.C. State freshmen paint the Silent Sam statue Eight N.C. State College freshmen, egged on by upperclassmen, daubed the Confederate soldier statue on the UNC campus with gray paint on a night raid. They turned themselves in, paid for the cleaning, and on February 7, 1961, pleaded guilty and paid $10 fines in Chapel Hill Recorder's Court. Place: Silent Sam statue, UNC campus, Chapel HillSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 9, 1961, p. 9
8. April 7, 1968 Vandals splatter Silent Sam with paint and a hammer and sickle Silent Sam, the Confederate monument in McCorkle Place, was found splattered with red, green, yellow and brown paint, with a red hammer and sickle on the back of its base, early on Sunday, April 7, three days after King's assassination. Campus police did not know who did it. Letters to the paper reported that students who scrubbed the statue on April 8 also hung small Confederate flags on it, which an assistant dean had taken down. Place: Silent Sam, McCorkle Place, UNC, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: McCorkle PlaceThe Daily Tar Heel, April 10, 1968, p. 2
9. March 29, 1969 Kappa Alpha stages an Old South secession ceremony at Silent Sam, and the mayor gives it the key to the town About fifty members of the Kappa Alpha Order and their dates, some on horseback, paraded behind drums to the Confederate monument in McCorkle Place for an Old South Weekend ceremony that, the Daily Tar Heel reported, honored the Old South's 'grace and charm' and declared the chapter's mock secession from the Union. Mayor Sandy McClamroch presented the fraternity with the key to Chapel Hill. People: Sandy McClamroch Place: Silent Sam, McCorkle Place, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: McCorkle PlaceThe Daily Tar Heel, March 30, 1969, p. 1
10. April 22, 1986 Silent Sam is lifted from its pedestal and sent to Cincinnati for restoration A crane lifted the Confederate monument from the base on McCorkle Place where it had stood since its June 1913 unveiling, and a Cincinnati bronze conservator trucked it away for an $8,200 restoration of the weathering, corrosion, vandals' paint and lead patches that had turned it green, expected to take about six months. The work was arranged by Chancellor Fordham's Advisory Committee on Historic Property, chaired by University property officer Grace Wagoner, which planned to restore the Caldwell Monument the next year for $2,300. People: Christopher C. Fordham III Place: McCorkle Place, University, Chapel Hill · Also named: Grace WagonerThe Daily Tar Heel, April 23, 1986, p. 1
11. November 12, 1986 Silent Sam goes back on its pedestal after restoration in Cincinnati At noon a crane returned the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam to its pedestal in McCorkle Place before about 100 people, seven months after it was taken down. Bronze specialists Eleftherios and Mercene Karkadoulias of Cincinnati had repaired cracks, cleaned off green oxidation and coated the statue with urethane for $8,200, a cost University property officer Grace Wagoner called well spent; rain cancelled the senior class's welcome-home party. Place: McCorkle Place, University, Chapel Hill · Also named: Eleftherios Karkadoulias, Mercene Karkadoulias, Grace Wagoner · Also mentions: Silent SamThe Daily Tar Heel, November 13, 1986, p. 1
12. 1995–2001 Yonni Chapman founds the Freedom Legacy Project at UNC While a UNC history graduate student, Chapman founded and directed the Freedom Legacy Project, a student group that documented the history of racial justice struggles at the university and publicly questioned the Silent Sam statue and the naming of Saunders Hall. People: Yonni Chapman Place: UNC-Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Saunders Hall, Silent Sam statueIn the index: UNC-Chapel Hill Young Democrats · NCpedia: Chapman, John Kenyon (Yonni)