Stone Mountain Memorial – 1925

Gutzon Borglum and Georgia’s Stone Mountain Memorial

At the turn of the 20^th Century, there was strong interest in commemorating the valor of the soldiers from the southern states who fought for the Confederacy. Considering all of their options for honoring these soldiers, proposals were made to carve a sculpture honoring General Robert E. Lee on Stone Mountain, in Georgia just north of Atlanta. Stone Mountain is a domed mountain with a huge rock outcropping which would be suitable for a carving.

Sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who, like others involved in this project, was an active member of the Ku Klux Klan, was hired by the Daughters of the Confederacy in 1915 to design this monument. Work did not commence until 1923 at which time Borglum had created a design for a monument honoring not only Lee but also Stonewall Jackson and CSA President Jefferson Davis.  An organization was formed to raise money for the project but also to ensure that the project was completed on time, thus the Stone Mountain Confederate Monumental Association was created.     

In 1924, the proposal for a Stone Mountain Commemorative Half Dollar was made by the Association and approved through Congress and signed into law by President Harding, who died shortly afterward. Sales of these coins would help to pay for the cost of building this memorial. Borglum had been hired at a cost of $250,000 to complete the three figures on Stone Mountain within three years.

Borglum was also hired to design the Commemorative Half Dollar that would be sold to support the carving of Stone Mountain. His proposed design for the obverse of the coin had mounted figures of General Lee and Stonewall Jackson facing left, with “IN GOD WE TRUST” above and 13 five-pointed stars.  

The reverse had an eagle perched on a large rock. He also displayed numerous Legends and a memorial to recently deceased President Warren G. Harding.

The design required some modifications but the central vignettes remained the same. Added to the obverse was the name of the coin “STONE MOUNTAIN” and the date “1925”. The reverse saw “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” remains at the top of the periphery, “E PLURIBUS UNUM” move under “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” and the legend “LIBERTY” was added. The central wording was changed to “MEMORIAL TO THE VALOR OF THE SOLDIER OF THE SOUTH.”

 The Stone Mountain Confederate Monumental Association along with the United Daughters of the Confederacy all sought to sponsor extensive coin distribution efforts. The coin was opposed by the Grand Army of the Republic veterans who were Union Civil War veterans.

Borglum had already designed the Children’s Founders Roll Medal that was used to raise money from Southern children for the monument. Once the coin was completed he turned back to working on the carving but the Association was not pleased with his delay-after-delay.   Tensions built up and finally, Borglum was dismissed from the project and in his retribution, he destroyed the models he had constructed of the proposed carving. He promptly left Georgia but was apprehended in North Carolina. No charges were pressed and he found his way to South Dakota and began work on the Mount Rushmore project. Augustus Lukeman was hired to complete the carving. It was not completed, due to a lack of funding, until 1970.

 The first coin struck was embedded in a gold plate and presented to President Coolidge and the next in a silver plaque presented to Treasury Secretary Mellon. The remainder of the first one thousand coins were placed in individually numbered envelopes. Between January and March of 1925, the Philadelphia Mint struck 2,310,000 Stone Mountain Memorial coins. The coins were officially priced at $1.00 each.

Some of the coins were later counter-stamped with abbreviations for various Confederate regiments and these became popular as pocket pieces carried by the CSA veterans themselves.

The Association sold coins through other means as well. They asked Southern-based companies to purchase them for their employees. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was one such company. Additionally, the Southern Firemen’s Fund Insurance Company and the Coca-Cola Company bought and presented coins to their employees.

 A total of 1,314,709 Stone Mountain Memorial half dollars were officially distributed, after deducting those pieces unsold that wound up being melted.

Expand your collection today and shop for a 1925 Stone Mountain Commemorative Half Dollar BU.