Daughters of Confederacy no longer seeking county money
By Jason Jacks
A group that is staging a 100th-anniversary celebration for a Confederate monument in Leesburg said it is no longer seeking money from the county to help fund the event.Becky Fleming, of Round Hill, said the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy received a large influx of donations from people upset with the cool reception the group received from the Board of Supervisors after asking it for money.
“We have received an outpouring of support,” she said. “Someone just sent me an e-mail saying they want to give us $500.”
She said the Town of Leesburg also donated $1,000 toward the May 31 celebration.
Because of this, the group says it no longer needs the county's assistance.
In April, Fleming, and fellow UDC member Melanie Torrance of Purcellville, told the board the group still needed $3,300 for the celebration. In response, supervisors were quiet for the most part. But Supervisor Stevens Miller (D-Dulles) said he had “questions” about the request since all he could “see was a statue of a Confederate soldier pointing a gun at me.”
Supervisor Kelly Burk (D-Leesburg) told the Times-Mirror that she would be more willing to endorse the group's request if a Union monument could also be “celebrated.” Supervisors were scheduled to address the matter again on May 7.
Called the Silent Sentinel, the monument in question is a bronze greenish-brown statue of a Confederate soldier perched atop a nearly 7-foot-tall pedestal. Unveiled in May 1908, the statue stands in front of the historic county courthouse in downtown Leesburg.
To mark the county-owned monument's 100th anniversary, the UDC is planning on May 31 a celebration in Leesburg, featuring music, people in period clothing and a horse-drawn float. Cost of the event is estimated at $6,300, $3,300 more than what the group was originally unable to pay.
When asked what she thought of the county's hesitance to fulfill the group's request, Fleming simply said, “The citizens realize the importance of this statue.”
To learn more, see loudounsconfederatemonument.com .
Contact the reporter at jjacks@timespapers.com