toward the terminus of Market Street at the Cape Fear River, a marketplace where slaves and their children were sold from the days of the city's settlement in the early 18th century until the city's capture by the Union Army in 1865 during the US Civil War. Erection and Dedication The cornerstone of the monument was laid on October 14, 1909, during a Masonic ceremony. Within the cornerstone were placed: A copy of the first number Carolina Churchman, dated October 1909 A copy of the commission of George Davis as Attorney General of the Confederate states, dated January 4, 1864 Coins The monument was dedicated on April 20, 1911, by four of Davis's grandsons: M.F.H. Gouverneur Jr., Donald McRae Jr., George Rountree, and Robert Cowan Davis. U.S. District Court Judge Henry G. Connor of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, delivered the dedication speech. The Delgado Band was hired for $25 to provide musical accompaniment. Connor's dedicatory remarks contained hallmarks that many historians have ascribed to examples of revisionist Lost Cause mythology. Connor falsely described Davis's making war against the United States as "patriotism" and Davis's call for secession from the Union as "moderation in speech": “You shall bring your sons to this spot, tell them the story of his life, of his patriotism of his loyalty to high thinking and noble living, of his moderation in speech, his patience under defeat, of his devotion to your City and State as a perpetual illustration and an enduring example of the dignity, the worth of a high-souled, pure-hearted Christian gentleman.” Family and Political Use, Damage, and Vandalism 1993 The Sons of Confederate Veterans "George Davis Camp 5" celebrated George Davis's birthday at the monument. 1995 Davis's descendants held a ceremony at the monument. 2000 In October, a truck belonging to Hanover Iron Works knocked the statue from its base, causing a dent to the back of the head and cracks to the neck and right shoulder. Repairs, which included re-carving the base, cost $25,000 and took more than a year to complete. The monument was re-erected in February 2002, 6 feet from its original site, and raised up on a new 6-inch curb. 2019 On June 29, a crowd rallied, demanding the city to remove the monument. In the early hours of July 4, a vandal threw orange paint on the monument. Dismantling, Covering and