MARION COUNTY CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL MARKER

On May 1, 1908, the John J. Dickison Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) dedicated this monument to honor the Confederate dead. To erect the monument, the UDC collected $1,500 from its members, schoolchildren (donating pennies), and the general public. The namesake of the UDC chapter, Captain J. J. Dickison, was a Marion County resident who served as a captain in the Second Florida Cavalry during the Civil War. Confederate monuments such as this were erected throughout the South after the war. The granite-tiered monument was fabricated by the McNeel Marble Works of Marietta, Georgia, a nationally-recognized manufacturer of marble stonework and large funerary art and memorials in the early twentieth century. It stands 23 feet high and is topped by a carved marble Confederate soldier locally referred to as “Johnny Reb.” Moved several times during its history due to expansions of the Marion County Courthouse, the monument found a permanent home at this location in 2010.