1894 Controversy

Stamp at base Louisville Confederate Monument from Muldoon Monument Co.

During the period of ratification, complications arouse for Enid Yandell’s design of the Louisville Confederate Monument. Controversy swirled around the fact that a woman won the bid for the monument design. Voting mishaps and accusations of corrupt ballots occurred in the week after the initial vote.  Headlines in the newspapers read, “Stuffed Ballot Box, Monument Association Still Far at Sea,” “The Fight Still On,” and “The Confederate Monument Question Has Not Been Settled.” Eventually, the honor of designing the monument went to the Muldoon Monument Company on October 5, 1894. While Yandell’s design did not prevail, she developed into a highly successful artist. In 1898 Yandell became the first female to join the National Sculpture Society. Louisville society accepted a woman’s monument association but a female artist for a Confederate monument proved too radical for late nineteenth century sensibilities.