Confederate Monument Target Of Franklin Protest

FRANKLIN, TN — A vigil on the Franklin square Monday started with prayers for the victims of the violence in Charlottesville, Va. and ended with a call for Franklin to remove the monument to Confederate soldiers that stands at the center of downtown.

Huddled om the steps of the Williamson County Courthouse as rain fell from the dreary August skies, the gathering offered up prayers for the victims, including 32-year-old Heather Heyer who was killed after being hit by a car driven into a crowd of counterprotesters, allegedly by James A. Fields, a man with ties to white supremacist groups whose associates have said is obsessed with Nazis.

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The rally, which was peaceful — unlike others on the square, which have drawn attention from the Ku Klux Klan, Burns Tabernacle pastor John Haynes told The Tennessean — eventually turned its attention to Chip, the memorial to Confederate soldiers which has been at the center of the square since 1899.

Donated by the Daughters of Confederate Veterans to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Battle of Franklin, the memorial is a bit unusual in that it is not festooned with the flag of the Confederacy nor does it depict a single person, unlike, for example, statues to Confederate spy Sam Davis in Nashville or Gen. Robert Hatton on the square in Lebanon. Between 6,800 and 8,500 soldiers died during the Nov. 30, 1864 battle.

Nevertheless, as a statue of Robert E. Lee toppled in Durham, N.C. and activists and the governor alike called for the removal of a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest in the Tennessee State Capitol, those gathered in Franklin said Chip should come down.

"It doesn't need to be destroyed they can take it apart piece by piece and put it in the museum, they don't have to destroy it but i don't think it should be the focal point of our square," resident Laurie Bruno told Fox 17.

Missy Horesh, who helped organize the event, told The Tennessean she wanted to set a good example for her children.

"I don't want hate to win, and I don't want our kids in a community where they see things on TV like they saw this weekend," Horesh said. "They need to see grown-ups in that community to say that's wrong and that they aren't going to stand for that. And we had discussion of our (vigil) being under a Confederate statue and what that represents. It's something that should be considered here."

A meeting to discuss the removal of the statue is scheduled for 6 p.m. August 24 at Franklin's Academy Park.

Image via Williamson County Convention and Visitor's Bureau