Confederate-Era Statue 'Silent Sam' Toppled By Students UNC's Campus

In 1913, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was unveiling a statue of a Confederate solider on campus. It had been placed there by the Daughters of the Confederacy. Julian Carr, a prominent industrialist and supporter of the Klu Klux Kla was invited to speak at the ceremony. In his speech, he credited Confederate soldiers with saving “the very life of the Anglo Saxon race in the South.” And then he told a personal story.

“I trust I may be pardoned for one allusion, howbeit it is rather personal,” Carr said, according to The Washington Post. “One hundred yards from where we stand, less than ninety days perhaps after my return from Appomattox, I horse-whipped a negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds, because upon the streets of this quiet village she had publicly insulted and maligned a Southern lady, and then rushed for protection to these University buildings where was stationed a garrison of 100 Federal soldiers. I performed the pleasing duty in the immediate presence of the entire garrison, and for thirty nights afterwards slept with a double-barrel shot gun under my head.”

On Monday night, the Silent Sam statue was pulled from its pedestal by a crowd of protests, and the Carr speech, as it is known around campus, was not far from anyone’s mind. The speech had been a galvanizing force for activists demanding the statue’s removal.

Banner commemorates black victims of racial violence in Chapel Hill, beginning with “1865 unnamed Black woman beaten by Julian Carr.” Maya Little calls for a monument to them; says Silent Sam must be removed. #UntilTheyAllFall pic.twitter.com/KaEMebNwvl

— John Bowles (@JPBowles) August 20, 2018

We leave tonight with #SilentSam not on his perch but instead on the back of a dump truck. Toppled tonight by protestors. @UNC investigating. #ABC11 pic.twitter.com/yTT6lCMrke

— Josh Chapin (@JoshChapinABC11) August 21, 2018