2. El Dorado Confederate Monument

The El Dorado Confederate Monument consists of a Confederate soldier in mid-stride on top of a four-columned classic temple structure.  The columns replicate cannon barrels of the Civil War.  Inside the temple is a fountain, which is no longer in operation. 

The monument was erected by the Henry G. Bunn Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Honor of Union County’s Confederate dead.  Its design is very unusual; it is believed to be the first such “memorial fountain” to be erected in the South.

Although no battles were fought in Union County, residents told of hiding their food and cotton from the federals (closest battlegrounds are 40 miles north, near Camden).  In 1861, “homeguards” looked after unprotected women and children, and a military tax helped the poor in Union County.  At the same time (in 1861 and ’62), Confederate currency was issued, of which several families in town still have extensive collections.

Located on Southwest corner of Courthouse lawn.  Erected in 1908 at a cost of $8,000 by the Henry G. Bunn Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy.