Vintage postcard image
Below Athena: MARCH XV MDCCLXXXI / IN THE MANOEVERING THAT PRECEDED IT, IN THE STRATEGY THAT SIGNALIZED IT, AND IN THE RESULTS THAT FLOWED FORM IT, THE BATTLE OF GUILFORD COURTHOUSE IS SECOND TO NO BATTLE FOUGHT ON AMERICAN SOIL. OVER THE BRAVE MEN WHO FELL HERE THEIR COMRADES MARCHED TO ULTIMATE VICTORY AT YORKTOWN, AND THE CAUSE OF CONSTITUTIONAL SELF GOVERNMENT TO ASSURED TRIUMPH AT PHILADELPHIA. TO OFFICER AND PRIVATE, TO CONTINENTAL SOLDIER AND VOLUNTEER MILITIAMAN, HONOR AND AWARD ARE ALIKE DUE. THEY NEITHER NEED DEFENSE NOR EULOGY BUT ONLY JUST RECOGNITION. A GRATEFUL NATION ERECTS THIS MONUMENT, THEREFORE, AS AN EXPRESSION OF ITS SOLEMN PRIDE IN THE MEN WHO FOUGHT HERE, OF ITS IMPERISHABLE DEVOTION TO THEIR MEMORY, AND OF ITS UNALTERABLE CONFIDENCE IN THE PERMANENCE OF THE PRINCIPLES WHICH THEIR EXAMPLE VINDICATED AND THEIR BLOOD CONSECRATED.
Below Greene: NATHANAEL GREENE / APPOINTED MAJOR GENERAL IN / COMMAND OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY / OCTOBER 14, 1780 / BORN IN RHODE ISLAND AUGUST 7, 1742 / DIED IN GEORGIA JUNE 19, 1786 /
On pedestal to Greene's left: HARLEM HEIGHTS / TRENTON / PRINCETON / BRANDYWINE / GERMANTOWN / MONMOUTH
On base to Greene's left: GREENE IS AS DANGEROUS AS WASHINGTON I NEVER FEEL SECURE WHEN ENCAMPED IN HIS NEIGHBORHOOD. / -CORNWALLIS
Much of the graffiti was anti-police. It was theorized that the motivation behind the vandalism was a photo of the Greensboro police department in front of the monument used on the cover of the 1989 city phone directory.
Though the monument has not moved, other monuments within sight have been removed and added over time. A line of monuments along the Old Battle Ground Road (now a walking path) was previously visible running east from about 120 feet to the to the North. The nearest was Clio, The Muse of History, (removed in 1937), followed to the east by the Battle of Alamance and James Hunter Monuments (moved to Alamance County), The Battle of Kings Mountain Monument (removed in 1937), and lastly the David Schenck and Joseph Morehead (both moved to new locations in sight of the Greene monument). The former location of many of these monuments is now overgrown. Additionally, the train station and railway (now a bike path), the Battle Monument, and the Davidson and Nash Arches were easily seen from the Greene monument.
Today, the Hooper-Penn monument and the Reynolds monument--which sits very close to where Clio once stood--are readily visible from Greene; a few others are noticeable in the distance.
Click here to explore the site of the Greene Monument.
11 July 2014 | Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina