Memorial causes uproar
Rock represents slavery, bravery
February 27, 1975

The Missourian, Kimberlea Rea

What is the difference between slavery and bravery?  Racism and patriotism?  
Confusion reigned for several months last year over the Confederate Rock, which 
blacks saw as a symbol of racism.

Last August, City Manager Terry Novak ordered the Confederate Rock, dedicated to 
the Boone County men who served the Confederacy, hauled away.  Novak decided the 
objection of blacks who resented the rock’s presence was reason enough to remove 
the historical monument from its resting place at Ninth Street and Conley 
Avenue.  

The 4.5-tonne (5.5-ton) rock was hauled to Airport Park early one Friday 
morning.  The Legion of Black Collegians objected to the rock as a symbol of 
racism.  The women who dedicated the rock praised the valor of soldiers.

The soldiers were Boone Countians who lived in a time of turbulence and 
violence.  The Civil War brought particularly bitter strife to the border 
states. Two-thirds of Missouri’s population was of Southern descent.  Boone 
County was a stronghold of Southern sympathy, yet its county seat was a Union 
army post.  Though exact figures never have been obtained, Boone County 
historians estimate that 500 county residents fought in each army.

The Civil War in Missouri was a guerilla war.  There were numerous bloody 
skirmishes and civilians often were affected.  Guerilla warfare usually stirs 
civilian sentiment, and the citizens of Boone County often were embroiled in 
partisan conflict.  Many University buildings and streets in Columbia were named 
in honor of the Union officers quartered in Columbia during the war.  A sampling 
of Confederate partisanship from “History of Boone County:”
  
“Two ladies living near Columbia were arrested by order of Capt. H. N. Cook, 
commander of post of Columbia, for insultingly getting off the sidewalk into the 
gutter in order to avoid passing beneath a Union flag.”

Partisanship ran high after the war; the Missouri Historical Society lists 16 
Confederate and 10 Union monuments known in the state.  In 1935, the United 
Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) dedicated a granite boulder to the 
Confederate soldiers of Boone County.  The June 4 (chosen because it was 
Jefferson Davis’ birthday) ceremony was attended by U.S. Sen. W. L. Nelson and 
Lt. Gov. Frank G. Harris.  The rock was accepted by Columbia Mayor R. Searcy 
Pollard.

The Legion of Black Collegians wanted the rock “out of the public view,” because 
“as a symbol of racism on the University campus, it hurt recruiting efforts,” 
said LBC Executive Secretary Marvin Thompson.  So, when last April the LBC sent 
a list of demands to University officials, one of the 15 demands was that the 
rock be removed.

Herbert Schooling, University chancellor, said officials met with LBC members in 
April.  “Some of us at the time pointed out it was a memorial, and the attempt 
was not to commemorate slavery but to commemorate soldiers who served in this 
war.  The object of the United Daughters of the Confederacy was to pursue 
historical significance.”

On August 12, however, Dean of Student Affairs James Banning sent a request to 
Novak that a conference be set up for members of LBC with city officials to 
discuss possible removal of the rock.

Four days later, the rock was gone.  No appointment had been made with Banning 
or the students, the City Council had not discussed it, and the United Daughters 
of the Confederacy was not consulted.

Moving the rock to Airport Park did not accomplish LBC’s objective of moving it 
from the public view.  Marilyn Quaintance, LBC chairman of campus and community 
relations, said, “We’re happy it’s been moved, but the demand hasn’t been met as 
such.”

The United Daughters if the Confederacy was not happy the rock was moved, said 
Mrs. George Duncan, president of UDC.

The Boone County Court voted unanimously Dec. 5 to place the rock on the 
courthouse lawn.

Former presiding judge James Butcher concluded by saying, “I personally reject 
the idea there is anything racist about the rock.  The primary cause of the war 
was states’ rights, as opposed to slavery.