Monument Honoring Black Union Soldiers To Be Installed At Historic First Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, Virginia

A monument honoring 70 Black Union soldiers is coming to Downtown Rocky Mount, Virginia.

A monument honoring 70 Black Union soldiers who fought for the U.S. in the Civil War will be unveiled at the historic First Baptist Church in downtown Rocky Mount, Virginia.

Cardinal News reports that the official unveiling of the monument is scheduled for late 2025. Made in partnership with Rocky Mount’s Raising the Shade Monument Committee and the Franklin County NAACP, it will honor the Black soldiers from Franklin County who served in the U.S. Colored Troops.

Once completed in 2025, the monument will be on the former site of the historically Black First Baptist Church, prominently located near the entrance to downtown Rocky Mount. This site reflects the legacy of the U.S. Colored Troops who fought for their freedom, as well as the resilience of the church’s founding members, who established their congregation during the era of Jim Crow.

“It’s almost like this is where the monument was meant to be in the first place,” said Eric Anspaugh, chair of the Franklin County NAACP.

The church’s erection and continuation in the Jim Crow South “It had to have been a radical thing,” Rev. Christopher Coates said.

The monument’s location information comes four years after researcher Glenna Moore discovered the Union soldiers and their ties to Franklin County in 2020. Her initial search for the city’s Black veterans found three who fought in the Civil War as Union soldiers. However, after a deeper dive, Moore discovered the 70 Black men who fought as part of the U.S. Colored Troops.

There was much debate over where the monument would be placed, with Raising the Shade steering committee and town officials agreeing that the Veterans Memorial Park would be a suitable location for the project. However, there were also considerations for placing the monument at the Rocky Mount farmers market.

However, First Baptist Church intervened when the Raising the Shade committee and the Franklin County NAACP, which oversees the project’s funds, could not reach an agreement with the town. The 7-foot bronze statue hopes to honor not just the Black Union soldiers from Franklin County but the countless Black men who fought for the country and went unnoticed.

Black men have fought for America since the Revolutionary War; however, following the Federal Militia Act of 1792, they were barred from enlisting. During the Civil War, nearly 200,000 Black soldiers enlisted to fight for the U.S., establishing the U.S. Colored Troops in 1863.

Now, a new monument will commemorate the service of Black soldiers in the Civil War, particularly those from Franklin County.

“It feels like a weight has been lifted off our shoulders,” Anspaugh said. “We’re celebrating.”