December 7, 1898

The 88-foot tall Alabama Confederate Monument was dedicated on Montgomery’s Capitol Hill. The elaborate ceremony included orations before the unveiling of each of the four granite figures and a tableau vivant enacted by 13 girls representing each of the Confederate states. The monument features a bronze figure of Patriotism atop a central column, a bronze pictorial narrative battle relief encircling the column, and four granite statues representing the infantry, artillery, cavalry and navy. In 2015, four Confederate flags surrounding the monument were removed by then-Gov. Robert Bentley amid growing controversy over the public display of Confederate symbols.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Soldiers with the Montgomery Field Artillery attend the ceremony for the laying of the cornerstone of the Confederate Monument on Capitol Hill in Montgomery on April 29, 1886. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Alabama Department of Archives and History)

Confederate Monument, Montgomery, c. 1906. (Detroit Publishing Company, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Confederate Memorial Monument, Montgomery, 2010. (The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

Confederate Memorial Monument, Montgomery, 2010. (The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

Confederate Memorial Monument, Montgomery, 2010. (The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.