An Oregon-based sculptor has designed the monument to honor more than 3,000 Black U.S. soldiers who served in Natchez when it was occupied by the Union army beginning in 1863.
NATCHEZ, Miss. – City officials will seek federal funds to help pay for two landscaped memorials being planned in Natchez to honor Black Union Civil War soldiers and the country’s first Black member of Congress.
The Board of Aldermen on Tuesday agreed with Mayor Dan Gibson’s proposal to apply for a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The funding request will be fashioned to be for enhancing a corridor of historic sites beginning at the former Forks of the Road slave market at Devereaux Drive and St. Catherine Street extending to the Mississippi River bluff area.
Gibson said he’ll be in Washington, D.C., later this week in Congressman Bennie Thompson’s office to discuss the city’s bid to get the federal funds.
A monument is being planned to honor Black Union soldiers stationed in Natchez during the Civil War. To be located on the city-owned green space at Broadway and Madison streets in the bluff area, the statue and landscaping have been designed with a potential cost of about $1 million.
Plans are underway to develop a plaza in honor of a U.S. senator from Natchez who served as the first Black member of Congress.Hiram Revels’ brief stint came in 1870-71 as Mississippi was readmitted into the United States after the Civil War.
Government and private partners are planning to locate Hiram Revels Plaza on “The Triangle” at the intersection of St. Catherine, Martin Luther King and Jefferson streets. A statue of Revels is being envisioned there.
The DOT program Gibson considers a potential source of funds for the monuments is for upgrading modes of transportation, but he said the city’s application can be formulated for improving the byways’ infrastructure that could include money to help build the tributes to Revels and the Black Union soldiers. The area has been dubbed the
“Forks to Freedom” historic corridor.
Natchez aldermen voted to hire a Jackson-based engineering firm to prepare the DOT grant application, which is due in February. Neal-Schaffer will be paid $30,000.
An Oregon-based sculptor has designed the monument to honor more than 3,000 Black U.S. soldiers who served in Natchez when it was occupied by the Union army beginning in 1863.
While the design of the statue and surrounding plaza has not been finally approved yet, there are funding sources that “have great promise” for what’s been estimated to cost as much as $1 million, Gibson said.
Private funds are being sought for the Natchez U.S. Colored Troops Monument project. People wanting to contribute can go to the organizing group’s website to send money and get more information: www.natchezusctmonument.com
The federal funding source the Board of Aldermen will apply for money is DOT’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program.
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