Sons of Confederate Veterans work to return marker to city

By: Bethany Fuller | Statesville Record & Landmark
Published: October 24, 2010

Norman Hope and his fellow members of the local chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans are on a mission to get a North Carolina Civil War Trails marker back in front of the Iredell County Government Center.
Hope first noticed the plaque -- which provides the story of Stoneman’s Raid -- was gone this spring when the group members raised the Confederate flag at the Center Street office. Hope said he was about to go over and look at the plaque when he noticed it was missing.
“ I walked over there and said, ‘Where is our Civil War Trails marker?’ ” Hope recalled.
The marker was removed by Richmond, Va.-based Civil War Trails, which organizes the trail, in 2009 after the Statesville Convention and Visitors Bureau decided to cut a $200 annual maintenance fee from its budget, said Michael Bowman, executive director of the Trails program. Civil War Trails removed the marker and returned it to Richmond.
“That was very discouraging,” Bowman said. “We’d never had a locality drop out.”
The marker depicts Stoneman’s Raid. According to the N.C. Civil War Trails’ website, Union Gen. George Stoneman raided parts of western North Carolina in the last months of the war to disrupt the Confederate supply lines.
“It’s just good history,” Hope said.
Bowman said there are more than 200 Civil War Trails sites in North Carolina.
Hope said he found out the Statesville Convention and Visitors Bureau was in charge of the marker, and called the bureau to find out what happened. SCVB Executive Director Michael Keith and Hope then talked with Civil War Trails executive director Mitch Bowman.
Hope said Bowman was excited about returning the marker to Statesville, but explained it would cost $400.
Hope said he talked to his camp commander about the Sons of Confederate Veterans sponsoring the sign. However, the matter couldn’t be considered by the organization until the November meeting, so Hope and his friend David Pope decided to pay the $400 fee to reinstate the sign themselves.
Pope said it appears that once the marker was moved, any mention of Statesville on the North Carolina Civil War Trails website disappeared as well.
Hope said he has given Keith a check for $400 from himself and Pope to cover the expense of getting back the marker.
“It’s hard to get a Civil War Trails marker,” Hope said. “I just think its great for the city to have it.”
The Sons of Confederate Veterans are meeting in November to vote on sponsoring the plaque.
Bowman said the marker will be back up soon. He didn’t know an exact date.
“We are just delighted to have Statesville” on the trail, he said.

Sons of Confederate Veterans work to return marker to city

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