Two plaques honoring Jefferson Davis on an Augusta bridge could go to a North Augusta museum if litigation doesn’t block their removal.
Milledge Murray, a member of the Heritage Committee of the Arts and Heritage Center of North Augusta, asked the Augusta Commission to donate the plaques to the center, located in the North Augusta Municipal Building.
The bronze signs greet pedestrians on the Georgia and South Carolina ends of the Fifth Street Bridge, which spans the Savannah River in downtown Augusta. Erected when the bridge opened as the “Jefferson Davis Memorial Bridge” in 1931, they honor the man who served as president of the Confederate States of America from 1861-1865.
After giving the bridge an $11 million makeover as a pedestrian bridge, the Augusta Commission voted 7-2 Nov. 15 to remove six markers honoring Davis, donate them to an unspecified museum and name the bridge “Freedom Bridge.”
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Murray said the markers represent a significant part of the riverfront city’s history as the South Carolina entrance into Georgia at Fifth Street. “In interpreting our history, we often refer to the Henry Shultz Toll Bridge that was at the same location,” he said.
The Shultz bridge stood from 1814 until washed out by flooding in the 1870s. Officials replaced it with a bridge known as the Centre Street or Hamburg Bridge, which washed out in 1929 but already tagged as a segment of the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway.
Augusta’s decision follows similar efforts around the country to remove Civil War memorials, most of which were erected decades after the war. The Department of Defense is in the process of removing the name of Confederate general John Brown Gordon from Fort Gordon.
A group of Augusta residents with ties to the Sons of Confederate Veterans threatened to sue the commission after the Nov. 15 vote, citing a state law ban on altering monuments to Confederate soldiers.
A city committee declined to discuss the donation Tuesday at the recommendation of General Counsel Wayne Brown, who said it had “legal implications” that warranted a closed-door session.
Susan McCord is a staff writer with The Augusta Press. Reach her at susan@theaugustapress.com
