1883/1902 (corner of East Main and North Franklin Streets)
“This monument means much, though not a soldier sleeps directly beneath its shadow.”
-Rev. Thomas Hooper, 1891
The Confederate war memorial, a 15-foot obelisk, was dedicated in 1883 to honor Montgomery County’s Confederate soldiers. The inscription, faded by time, reads:
The Constitution Oak next to the monument was one of forty-five saplings given to the delegates of Virginia’s 1901-1902 Constitutional Convention. The 1902 constitution marked the resurgence of Democratic control of the state, replacing the Reconstruction-era constitution of 1870 and ushering in an era of Jim Crow segregation policies that would shape racial interactions in Virginia until the 1960s. Montgomery County treasurer and Confederate veteran Arthur O. Sullivan planted the tree in 1902. It was saved from a road widening plan by Christiansburg citizens in 1960.
Members of the county homegroup, including N. V. Correll, G. N. Garnaund, June 3, 1905.