1925 Stone Mountain Memorial Half Dollar

O ne of the more common U. S. commemorative coins, the Stone Mountain half dollar was a by-product of a much larger undertaking—the carving of monumental figures of Robert E. Lee, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and Jefferson Davis into the side of a sheer cliff. These heroes of the Southern Confederacy (only Lee and Jackson appear on the coin) were portrayed on horseback on a scale that would render them visible for miles. This great sculpture was not completed until more than fifty years after it commenced, and it left behind a legacy of strife and scandal which at one point brought all work to a halt. The coins that resulted from this visionary project possess a remarkable history of their own.

For many years after its sad end in 1865, the failed Confederate States of America remained a lost cause from which the South was continually attempting to recover. This all changed in 1915 with the release of The Birth of A Nation, an epic film by motion picture pioneer David Wark Griffith. Himself the son of a Confederate veteran, D. W. Griffith was raised on tales of Southern chivalry and the glorious cause of “states rights.” In his melodramatic depiction of the Civil War and its aftermath in the South, Griffith glorified this period and launched a revival of its traditions. These were manifested in a variety of ways, not all of them progressive, but one result of this renewed interest in the CSA was a grand scheme to memorialize its most beloved figures.

In 1916, sculptor Gutzon Borglum was commissioned by the Stone Mountain Confederate Monumental Association to carve a large bust of General Robert E. Lee into the mountain’s broad northeast face. The Association envisioned something on the order of 20 feet square that could be viewed with a telescope. Borglum countered with a much grander pictorial scene of CSA officers on horseback accompanied by a parade of infantry. Also envisioned were a memorial hall and museum at the base of the mountain, as well as a gigantic amphitheater. Borglum’s power of persuasion was superb, and the Association followed his lead; the plan was approved.