When I was a member of the Kaufman County Historical Commission, I discovered the statue in question and all of its parts which had been dragged down Washington Street and basically used as land fill for a ditch at the county farm. I began researching it and found that it had not been bought by the county and, therefore, was NOT county property but was paid for by hundreds of citizens of the county. Most importantly, the statue, itself, was sculpted by a very well known sculptor who just happened to be a personal friend of Gov. Colquitt from Terrell. The statue was by Coppini, who incidentally, did the Littlefield statue at The University of Texas among other famous statues. When Colquitt was elected, he used his influence to commission the white marble statue. Several pieces of the gray granite base (I believe the are a total of 7) were done in Tyler. When reassembling the statue, I actually found a subscription ticket where someone had donated 5 cents toward the project. I went before the Commissioner’s Court and, knowing the potential situation, elicited the help and support of Mr. E.P. Shaw, a highly respected member of the black community and a prominent educator in Terrell as well as a current member, at the time, of the Historical Commission of which I, also, was a member.
At the meeting, I gave a speech telling my findings as mentioned in part above. But, the deciding comment was the remark I made: in summation… “Now, you may not know all about famous sculptors or even Texas history, but I can tell you something that will be in language you CAN understand….. the statue is worth more than the entire current courthouse building!” That really got their attention. Then, Mr. Shaw made the comment, “This is NOT a statue of any famous general or southern leader. This is a statue representing the boys from our own area who went to war. It is of a private of whom there were thousands on both sides. It represents the common man.” Mr. Shaw strongly endorsed preserving this statue. The court noted to endorse our mutual request 100%.
I said that I would give of my services as a professional sculptor and restorationist as a gift to my county and its citizens: the gift of restoration. The commissioners agreed to let the trustees dig and help with moving of the stones, some of which weighed 12 tons and more. I, initially, supervised the moving and restacking and then worked with the recarving and reconstruction on ground level which took working steadily for six months. Missing parts were all recarved by hand. My gift, alone, would have been $60,000 while a previously restored monument in Dallas had cost double that amount. Subsequently, vandals have pulled off the top of the gun which had been totally rebuilt.
As a funny side note: Coppini loved to play pranks on his audience. Sometimes, a soldier’s ‘fly’ would be open. In our statue, the statue has two left boots….just another identifying Coppini trick.
Just as in WWII, we denounce Hitler, Stalin, and others, but we cannot not acknowledge there was a war. More importantly, there were thousands of unranked and low rank Germans who were just doing what they were told to help protect their homes and family.
At the time, much was reported in the Kaufman paper and, of course, state and county records substantiate my work. Hon. Glen Ashworth was district judge at the time and, likewise, highly supported the efforts.
In summation, this is simply a statue in memory of the fallen boys who have come home one last time to rest. Therefore, I strongly urge that it be left in its place.
To express an opinion, email Kaufmanmonument@gmail.com.
Respectfully,
Davis Griffith-Cox
Terrell, TX 75160
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