Stone Mountain: Children's Founders Roll Medal

[leeg]

I believe the Stone Mountain Commemorative Half Dollar had more marketing schemes than all other commemorative coins combined. One of them was the Children's Founders Roll. I happened to find one designed by Gutzon Borglum.

 

My Gutzon Borglum example. I believe it has a nice patina which enhances it's originality.

 

A little history lesson:

 

In 1915 the United Daughters of the Confederacy invited the renowned sculptor and fellow Klansmen, Mr. Gutzon Borglum, to see the mountain and take measurements. The United Daughters of the Confederacy originally wanted Borglum to carve a single figure of Robert E. Lee into the side of the mountain, but after taking measurements, Borglum instigated that the single carving would make Lee’s head look like a “stamp on a barnyard door.” Borglum then sent the U.D.C. a plan to incorporate Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson as a central focus, with numerous other soldiers in the back drop. In all, the original number of figures to be carved was 800 to 1200. The size of General Lee was to be eight times larger than any other sculpted figure in America.

 

Not only was the size of the project enormous, but the cost to fund the project took help from a number of different sources. The U.D.C. and the Ku Klux Klan helped initially fund the estimated $5,000,000 dollar project, but support also came from other sources. First the Founders Roll Plan required a subscription of no less than $1,000 payable in equal installments over 5 years. Second, the Children’s Founders Roll plan allowed any person between 1 and 18 to submit their names in the Book of Memory in the name of a Confederate soldier or woman of the Confederacy for $1.00. Finally, the U.S. mint issued a Memorial Half Dollar which was sold at a profit to help fund the process. The Act minted 5,000,000 coins, designed by Gutzon Borglum. The profit from the coins produced were in hopes to account for half of the expenses the work of Stone Mountain would demand.

 

The initial effort to raise funds for the Memorial through the selling of a numismatic item was the issuance of a bronze Children's Founders Roll medal. The medal was designed by Gutzon Borglum and sold from 1924 to 1925. The central device on the obverse features Borglum's proposed depiction of the figures of Lee, Jackson and Davis. His name appears in -script on the lower obverse field. The reverse carries the legend "Children's Founders Roll - Commemorating the Heroism of the People of the Confederacy". These were sold for $1.00 to children under 19 in honor of the memory of some person who served the Confederacy during the Civil War. In addition to receiving a medal, the child's and honoree's names were inscribed in a Book of Memory to be housed in a proposed Memorial Hall to be carved into the base of the mountain below the carving. The medals were struck by Whitehead-Hoag, as were all the medals described below. The manufacturer's name appears on the lower reverse.

 

After Borglum was dismissed by the Monumental Association, the sculptor that replaced him, Augustus Lukeman, designed a medal that was offered in three versions. The central obverse device on all the Lukeman medals are the figures of Davis, Lee and Jackson as designed by Lukeman (the figures are placed differently than the Borglum design). The device on the reverse is an image of the entrance to the proposed Memorial Hall. The first Lukeman medal was a Children's Founders Roll medal and was sold for $1.00 from 1925 to 1927. The obverse legend reads "Children's Founders Roll Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial ". The second medal offered was a Living Veteran's Roll medal available for $5.00 to Confederate veterans. This medal had the same devices, with "Living Veterans'" replacing "Children's Founders" in the obverse legend and is gold plated. Additionally, the initials "U.C.V." (United Confederate Veterans) and date "1927" are struck into the lower reverse. The third medal was available for $5.00 to adults who were not veterans and was designated a "Gold Star" medal. It was the same as the Children's Honor Roll Medal but was gold plated. The Living Veterans and Gold Star medals were sold in 1927. There are also Lukeman Children's Honor Roll medals known counterstamped with a State abbreviation and "1927".

 

Although the proposed Memorial Hall was never carved into the mountain, participant's names were entered into a Book of Memory which is kept in the Stone Mountain Collection at the Manuscript and Rare Book Library at Emory University in Atlanta. There are 3,500 names inscribed in the Living Veteran's Roll section and 35,622 names inscribed in the Children's Founders Roll section.

 

I received some original documents today and will transcribe them here:

 

STONE MOUNTAIN CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL BULLETIN #2

 

"Without sword or flag, and with soundless tread

We muster once more our deathless dead,

Out of each lonely grave."

 

Like the echo of a bugle call to action from the bivouacs of dead, comes the call of the Children's Founders Roll, summoning the people of the south to unite in honoring "The men by Lee and Stonewall led."

 

Long ago they died. Some sleep now beneath the columned whiteness of cold marble; some, in silent, serried ranks, maintain the comradeships of war; and some lie, lost and lonely, in nameless graves on fields of battle hallowed by the blood of heroes.

 

Our dead!

 

Shall the ages efface their name and story, as Time and Death already have blurred the outward semblance of their souls?

 

Or shall we bring "up from the dust of the dead" the undying glory of the past?

 

Let us give to the ages the record of a people's valor, a people's pride, a people's sorrow and a people's LOVE.

 

Enroll the children of the South now in memory of their Confederate ancestors.

 

(Signed) Mary Carter Winter

Volunteer Secretary,

Children's Founders Roll

Box 1398, Atlanta, Georgia.

 

 

I believe it's important to be "All In" when conducting research.

[RWB]

Great info...really adds to the Stone Mountain story.

[Dudley the 1st]

I applaud your Research Efforts. Congrats on your selection.

[leeg]

Thanks Roger and Dudley the 1st.

 

 

STONE MOUNTAIN CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL BULLETIN #3

"On the muster roll of glory

In my country's future story"

I will consecrate their names.

 

The Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial, through it's Children's Founders Roll and its Golden Book of Memory for the enrollment of living Confederate Veterans offer to the South a great opportunity to inscribe the names of the veterans of the sixties on an imperishable "muster-roll of glory."

 

Will you join in memorializing the South's grey heroes? Will you make it possible for every living soldier of the sixties to own the gold medal which means that his name is written in the South's great Book of Memory?

 

More than fifty years ago, the remnant of Lee's army stood with him at Appomattox. Wearied with the stress of war, heart-broken with the realization of the futility of their sacrifices, they watched, with tear-filled eyes, as thier leader, stern, sad-eyed but proudly humble, tendered his sword in the final gesture of defeat.

 

Gaunt, war-scarred, clothed in the tattered garments of a needy cause they wended their way homeward again. Their battleflags, shell-torn and grimed, were furled at Lee's command; but they brought back with them the banners of their courage, the standards of their honor, unsullied by the stains of war. Wearing the hero-look of those who have faced death for honor's sake, they enlisted anew in the service of the South.

 

Patriots in war, patriots in peace, they slavaged the hopes and the heritage of a people.

 

Those of whom I speak were our own men, our own patriots, our own heroes. Shall we forget what they have done for us? Shall we permit thier names to fade away into the oblivion of the years?

 

Or shall we set their names where they will shine forever in the light of Fame?

 

Time moves on. Only a few of them are left. The hero-look upon their faces has yielded to the touch of age. Wrinkles crowd their cheeks; their eyes are dim and blurred; their shoulders stooped and feeble. Already Death's shadow darkens across the horizon of their lives. Soon the last gray soldier will have vanished in the mists that rise beyond the confines of Eternity. Too late then to let them know how much we loved them. Too late then to give happieness to thier old hearts. Too late then to see them thrill once more at the sight of the South's gold token of devotion. Now is the time to let them know that the south has not forgotten them and the cause for which they fought.

 

Enroll one or more veterans in the Golden Book of Memory. Send in your contribution of five dollars or more now. If everyone will aid in this way, every name can be enrolled. Will you help?

 

(Signed) Mary Carter Winter

Mrs. Rogers Winter

Volunteer Secretary for the

Enrollment of Living Veterans.

 

[nunfa0]

Lee, you are just awesome but stop teasing and publish that book already!!!

[ldhair]

Very nice. Fun to read.

[leeg]

Thanks nunfa0 and Larry.

 

Working hard almost every day on the book nunfa0. (thumbs u

 

 

The final installment around this medal:

 

RULES OF ENROLLMENT

THE CHILDREN'S FOUNDERS ROLL

OF THE

STONE MOUNTAIN CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL

 

1. The rules of enrollment should be STRICLY OBSERVED.

 

2. No person who has passed the nineteenth birthday is eligible for the Children's Founders Roll - except through the five dollar enrollment for adult descendants. See section 7.

 

3. The relationship of child to veteran should be PLAINLY STATED. Omission of this fact will result in the notation "no kin" being entered on the enrollment blank, to prevent confusion of records.

 

4. If a northern child desires to honor a Confederate hero by enrollment the name may be received, PROVIDED, the application is plainly marked "no kin."

 

5. Children who died before reaching the age of nineteen years may be enrolled, even though their age - if now living - would exceed the stated limit. This is permitted in order that mothers who are cherishing in their hearts sorrowful memories of little ones lost to them through death may have the privilage of placing their names in perpetuity in the granite heart of the Memorial at Stone Mountain.

 

6. One child may enroll as many Confederate ancestors as desired, provided the one dollar contribution is sent in with each name.

 

7. Adults desiring to enroll their names in honor of Confederate ancestors may do so by sending in an enrollment contribution of five dollars for "The Golden Book," for which they will receive a medal similar to the Children's Founders Roll medal, but triple-plated in gold.

 

8. Send in names as quickly as possible to avoid over-crowding and confusion. Accurate records will be kept, showing totals of state and town enrollments.

 

9. The three medals described will make desireable anniversary gifts. When requested to do so, the office will hold medlas until a given date and mail in special gift boxes.

 

10. Children desiring to change old medals for new medals bearing the Lukeman design may do so by sending in their old medals and an exchange contribution of fifty cents each.

 

11. Write all names plainly and be sure to give full residence addresses, both city and state, as omission of this information makes it practically impossible to deliver medals. Medals will be mailed to children the day application blanks and money are received.

 

12. If you can send in only one name, send it; if you can send a thousand, send them and exult in the fact that you are doing your share in building the world's greatest Memorial to the bravest men the world has ever known.

 

13. Will you help?

 

(Signed) Mary Carter Winter

Mrs. Rogers Winter

Volunteer Secretary,

Children's Founders Roll,

Box 1398, Atlanta, Georgia.

 

[johnny9434]

what an interesting read.

[Steve's Roosies]

As the original author of a good portion of the original post, it annoys me a little that you would post without attribution. Regards,

 

Steve Deitert

[leeg]

Hi Steve,

I didn't have it in my notes where the opening statements for my original post came from. If they are yours, my apologies, because you are correct in that I should have mentioned you as the originator.

[Steve's Roosies]

Thanks for the apology. If quotation marks aren't used, one will presume you to be the author.

 

If you're able to make the trip, I would suggest a visit to the Manuscript and Rare Book Library at Emory University - there is still a great deal of numismatic info there regarding Stone Mountain to be uncovered.

 

Steve

[leeg]

I just might have to do that.