By Brian D. Kowell
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2024, All Rights Reserved
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in The Charger in December 2024.
This past summer my wife and I traveled to South Dakota. We visited Mount Rushmore and were awestruck by the magnificence of the sculpted mountain with the visages of Washington, Jefferson, T. Roosevelt, and Lincoln – all done under the skilled guidance of sculptor Gutzon Borglum. This was not Borglum’s first try carving heroes on a mountain’s face.
I knew little about Borglum until my wife purchased a book about the sculptor written by Rex Alan Smith. In chapter 4 of his book titled The Carving of Mount Rushmore, I learned that it was Borglum who did the carvings on Stone Mountain in Georgia.
It is unclear who originally had the idea to carve a Confederate memorial on Stone Mountain. But what is known is that an Atlanta newsman, John Graves, made the first recorded suggestion, although nothing came of it until Mrs. Helen Plane, the 85-year-old national president of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, decided to get a sculptor’s opinion. That sculptor was Gutzon Borglum, who had previously carved the statue of General John B. Gordon.
On August 17, 1915 Borglum arrived in Atlanta and met with the local chapter of the UDC who proposed carving a 20-square-foot likeness of Robert E. Lee. They took Borglum to the 2,000-foot-long, 800-foot-high Stone Mountain to have a look. “Ladies,” he said after a while, “a 20-foot head of Lee on the mountainside would look like a postage stamp on a barn door! I’ll have to think about it.”
Spending three days examining the mountain, Borglum came up with a vision of a titanic grouping of the Confederacy’s greatest leaders surrounded by infantry, cavalry, and artillery. Upon returning to Atlanta, he told the ladies of the UDC of his vision. The ladies worried about the vast sums of money it would cost, but Borglum, always self-assured, told them it would not be a problem, as the South would give massive support. He presented his plans at the UDC national convention in San Francisco and dazzled the ladies. They gave Borglum verbal authority to proceed.
Borglum had to solve how to safely transport men and equipment up the mountain’s sheer sides. He consulted with inventor Lester Barlow, of the Brown Hoist and Machinery Company in Cleveland, Ohio, but the cost was $200,000 and the UDC had managed to raise only $2,000 so far, so that was abandoned. Borglum decided to use sling-seats suspended by cables attached to the top of the mountain. This was simple and inexpensive, and it worked.
Lack of money and World War I intervened and brought construction to a halt. After the war the UDC still was unable to raise sufficient funds and turned the promotion and financing to the Stone Mountain Monumental Association, comprised of the cream of Atlanta’s social and financial society. Borglum was rehired and restarted the work, financing the project out of his own pocket believing he would be reimbursed.
Late 1923 saw the emergence of Lee’s profile on the cliff, and the press took note. There was an unveiling on January 19, 1924, which was the general’s birthday. A modest but steady stream of donations began flowing to the Association. Mrs. Plane, now 94 years old and dressed in an 1860’s costume, was carried to the rostrum, and at her signal two large American flags were parted revealing Lee.
Work progressed, but so did the problems. The Association treated Borglum as just their employee, and this lack of respect rankled the artist. His ego bruised, Borglum needed to do other projects to raise money to feed his family and was frequently absent from the project. He also questioned the way the Association was handling the funds. The Association tried to raise money by appealing to Congress to authorize the issue of special half-dollar coins. Borglum got into an argument about his design for the coins and accused the Association of trying to rig the affair to line their own pockets. He also said the Association owed him $40,000, but the Association said they had already paid him $25,000. In fact, according to their books (which were suspect) he owed them $40,000. The Association began to view him as an obnoxious, money-hungry Yankee from Connecticut and a Republican to boot! The board had even suggested an assistant sculptor be hired to continue Borglum’s work.
Borglum had a fit. He went to the site, grabbed his plans and sketches, took a hammer, and destroyed his models. Hearing of this, the Association declared that the models and plans were their property and promptly had an arrest warrant issued. Borglum received the news of the warrant and, before the sheriff arrived, jumped into an automobile and fled 120 miles, crossing into North Carolina.
The State of Georgia filed a $50,000 damage suit against Borglum and called for his extradition. They tried to ruin Borglum’s reputation, but they did not succeed. The national press sided with Borglum. Conceding that Borglum was a hard man to get along with, the national press said that he had a right to destroy his models. Public opinion began to side with the sculptor, and soon the lawsuits were dropped.
The Stone Mountain project was abandoned until after World War II. The carvings of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis on their horses were finished in 1972. Borglum meanwhile went to the Black Hills of South Dakota to carve another mountain.
Related link:
Gutzon Borglum: Part Deux
Sources (Click on the book titles on this page to purchase from Amazon. Part of the proceeds from any book purchased from Amazon through the CCWRT website is returned to the CCWRT to support its education and preservation programs.)
The Carving of Mount Rushmore, Rex Alan Smith, New York, Abbeville Press, 1985.
“Memorial Carving” (https://stonemountainpark.com/activity/history-nature/memorial-carving/)