The Clinton City Council adopted a resolution in favor of removing a Confederate soldier statue from the front of the Sampson County Courthouse and relocating it. The Sampson Board of Commissioners will have to make the decision.

The Clinton City Council adopted a resolution in favor of removing a Confederate soldier statue from the front of the Sampson County Courthouse and relocating it. The Sampson Board of Commissioners will have to make the decision.

The Clinton City Council is calling on county officials to remove the Confederate monument from the courthouse steps, adopting a resolution urging Sampson’s commissioners to begin exploring options to relocate the statue of the soldier.

At this week’s Council meeting, Councilman Darue Bryant made a motion to amend the agenda for the regularly scheduled meeting to address the statue of a Confederate soldier at the bottom of the steps leading into the Sampson County Courthouse in Clinton.

Mayor Lew Starling and the members of the City Council subsequently voted to adopt a resolution stating the Clinton City Council was in support of the monument’s removal.

“Whereas a memorial monument honoring the Confederate soldiers of Sampson County currently stands in front of the Sampson County Courthouse, sitting on county-owned land; whereas, ownership of the monument has never been passed to the city; and whereas, the City of Clinton is committed to promoting racial equity and justice, and desires to express this commitment through this resolution, and whereas, the City of Clinton desires that Sampson County begins to explore options for removing and relocating the Confederate monument from the Sampson County Courthouse within the City of Clinton … Now, therefore, be it resolved by the City Council of the City of Clinton that request be hereby made to Sampson County that options begin being explored for the removal and relocating the Confederate monument located at the Sampson County Courthouse,” the approved resolution stated.

The engraved marking underneath says the monument was built to honor soldiers who died during the Civil War. The monument was spearheaded by the Ashford-Sillers Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Bryant clarified that Council members had not adopted a resolution before Tuesday night; they were simply working on one.

“We were working on a resolution,” Bryant commented. “We had a majority that was in favor of removing the statue, but (the resolution) had not yet been adopted. Once adopted, we would have taken that resolution and given it on to the county commissioners.”

Leading up to the approval of the resolution, three councilmen, Bryant, Neal Strickland and Holden DuBose, each read resolutions regarding the Confederate statue, all having slightly a different language.

After the three read their resolutions, Council members were invited to make a motion to adopt one resolution for the City of Clinton. Bryant made the motion to adopt the resolution that Strickland provided, with Marcus Becton, mayor pro tem for Clinton, seconding.

There was no discussion or debate and the motion passed unanimously.

DuBose’s resolution focused on placing a review on the monument and to explore reviewing moving and relocating the Confederate monument. Bryant noted that the City Council members can’t do anything about the statue because it is on county property. The Council will present the resolution to the Sampson County Board of County Commissioners, and the county board will decide the next steps.

Assistant Sampson County manager Susan Holder said county administration received an electronic copy of the approved resolution the night the Council adopted it. It was then shared with commissioners.

“We have received it and it has been conveyed to all members of the board,” Holder stated. “To date, there is no direction from the board as to when or how discussions/considerations of the issue would be accomplished.

She confirmed what Bryant has maintained in regard to a decision concerning the monument’s location, noting that it “would be a county issue versus a city issue given the location on county property, the courthouse.”

All three of the city’s proposed resolutions stated that ownership of the monument has never passed through the city or the county.

“Residents of the City of Clinton have issued a clear call to remove this monument as expeditiously as possible due to the harm it poses,” Bryant’s proposed resolution read in part.

Bryant, a local minister and businessman, recently started a petition for removal of Sampson County’s Confederate monument through Change.org. As of Friday, nearly 3,000 people had signed the petition.

Bryant said the statue “symbolizes a dim and heinous past.”

This is not the first time people in Clinton or Sampson County have called for the removal of the Confederate monument.

In 2017, the Sampson County Branch of the NAACP, including members Larry Sutton, Willie Mitchell and Luther Moore, attempted to remove the monument by sending letters to both Clinton City and Sampson County leaders.

According to Bryant, the Sampson County Board of Commissioners has the authority to remove this statue.

“I understand that there will be a remnant who feel strongly about their Southern heritage and may see this movement as being unfair or as an encroachment,” Bryant stated during a protest at the base of the memorial earlier this week. “I believe in being diplomatic so, my desire is not to see the statue destroyed, but rather relocated to an environment befitting for history, such as a historical battle site or museum with other artifacts, relics, and objects of the Confederate past. This will provide opportunity unto those that desire to pay homage or respect without spawning unnecessary tension in our community.”

On the other side of the tracks, some arguments state removing the statue would be a disrespect to veterans from the war. It would be as if they were erasing history.

According to Bryant, the Sampson County History Museum’s board is willing to receive the monument.

Kay Raynor, president of the Sampson County History Museum, reported that the board met with Bryant about the matter. If removal is approved by county commissioners, Raynor said museum officials will find a place for the statue among existing exhibits at the museum located at 313 Lisbon St. in Clinton.

The museum is home to several buildings dedicated to law enforcement, agriculture and Sampson County residents who made contributions to local sports. A building dedicated to Sampson’s military history opened in 2019 featuring information and artifacts dating back to the Revolutionary War.

“We are a history museum,” Raynor said. “Our mission is preserve, interpret and share history. We were asked if we would consider accepting it and our board voted ‘yes.’”

Brendaly Vega Davis can be reached at 910-592-8137 ext. 2588.