Statue of confederate soldier finds new home in Dickerson

Five months after the decision to move the confederate statue from Rockville, Maryland was made, it has finally arrived to White’s Ferry in Dickerson. Amidst the current controversy on statues of confederate figures standing on government property, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Legget ordered its removal from the Rockville Courthouse in 2015. The monument is 103 years old, donated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
The statue, a confederate soldier, posing with his arms crossed and a hat and saber, is 16 feet tall and weighs 25,000 pounds. It also bears an inscription that reads “To Our Heroes of Montgomery County Maryland: That We Through Life May Not Forget to Love the Thin Gray Line.”
Edwin Brown, owner of White’s Ferry says that he is “happy to provide a place for the statue to be relocated. Those who wish to visit it will be able to do just that.”
In its previous location, the memorial was graffitied and vandalized on multiple occasions, causing the statue to stored away in 2015. The hope is that with the move of this historic statue, the desecration will end. This statue is becoming yet another element that ties the Town of Poolesville back to the Civil War. Poolesville is home to many buildings that date back to the Civil War, such as the Methodist Church. During the war, many soldiers resided in Poolesville and the church was used a Union hospital, telegraph office, and signal post. The graveyard surrounding the church has around eighty soldiers buried in it. After the war ended, White’s Ferry was purchase by former Confederate officer Elijah White, who named the ferry after his former commander General Jubal Anderson Early.
PHS student Kennedy McArthur and resident of Poolesville states that “The statue may make people uncomfortable and bring up negative associations to America’s history.”