The Confederate Monument
This monument created due to the efforts of George B. Payne. In 1875 Payne lived in Topeka, Kansas. During the Civil War Payne was a private in the 4th Kentucky Infantry. He served as a courier for Gen. John C. Breckinridge and spent time during the war in Bowling Green.
Payne sought a fitting monument to honor those Confederate soldiers buried in Bowling Green. At his insistence the Warren County Monumental Association was formed. Thomas H. Hines, 9th Kentucky Cavalry of John Hunt Morgan’s command served as the president of the Association. A subscription drive was begun in 1875 and the monument was dedicated on May 3, 1876.
At the dedication ceremony over 10,000 people gathered to hear the speeches. The oration was delivered by W. C. P. Breckinridge, former colonel of the 9th Kentucky Cavalry and an important figure in Confederate veterans associations in Kentucky.
The monument cost $1,500.00. It was designed and created locally using white limestone. There are more 70 soldiers buried around the obelisk. Their bodies are buried in unique concentric circles around this impressive limestone shaft.
The "Lost Cause"
This lithograph created by Henry Moseler was a popular image in the post-war South. It brought home the devestation wrought on the South by the Civil War. A likeness of this image was carved on the Bowling Green monument.
Marker is at the intersection of Fairveiw Avenue (Kentucky Route 234) and St. Joseph Lane on Fairveiw Avenue.
Courtesy hmdb.org
