Rutherford County’s Confederate Guardian of Peace Monument was unveiled November 7, 1901, facing east down East Main Street. It was moved to its current location in 1914.
There is a reason the local historians refer to this monument as the ‘Confederate Peace Memorial’…
The Memorial was moved to it’s current location, facing northeast, in 1914.
Why move the Memorial? Why face northeast???
Think about it: the winds of war were stirring in Europe. Many Rutherford County residents had memories of the Civil War – and Reconstruction.
Many of these same residents wanted America to remain neutral. The Memorial was moved to face northeast as a reminder to our leaders in Washington how war is a terrible, terrible thing.
Please visit our Confederate Peace Memorial and read the engraving on the left side of the Memorial – “Lest we forget” (Rudyard Kipling, 1897)
The Rutherford County Confederate veterans gathered in front of the Confederate Guardian of Peace monument on the Square in Murfreesboro for their annual reunion in 1929. A.C. “Uncle Albert” Everett, the only black veteran in the group, in on the far right of this photo in front of the Charles Store.