Originally published Oct 22, 2020, on chron.com at https://tinyurl.com/3nvrakk5.
By Roy Kent
Staff writer
The fate of the Jaybird-Woodpecker War monument has been decided with the controversial monument moving from the grounds of Richmond City Hall. The Richmond City Commission decided on Monday to approve an agreement with Fort Bend County to relocate the monument to the historic Hodges Bend Cemetery in Sugar Land.
“After receiving the recommendation of the Ad Hoc Committee, the Richmond City Commission approved an Interlocal Agreement with Fort Bend County for the relocation of the article known as the Jaybird Monument,” the city of Richmond reported in a statement. “In 1896 the artifact was erected on the site of the Fort Bend County courthouse.”
The only thing standing in the way of moving the monument is a vote by the Fort Bend County Commission, scheduled for Oct. 27.
Should county commissioners approve the deal, the county “will fund the dismantling, transporting, and reconstruction of the article at the county’s expense.”
According to the news release from the city, “The City Commission also approved the conveyance of the article to Hodges Bend Cemetery Association, Inc. The Association will maintain and preserve the artifact.”
Hodges Bend Cemetery is located at 17245 Old Richmond Road in Sugar Land. The last burial at the cemetery was for Mattie White in 1942 who was buried next to her husband G.W. White, who died in 1938.
Among the other graves at the cemetery is one for James Madison Shamblin, which features his birth and death dates and no other inscriptions. Shamblin is one of the three people honored by name on the Jaybird Memorial.
The other men whose names are inscribed on the monument are H.H. Frost and L.E. Gibson.
The controversy surrounding the monument is based in the history of the Jaybird-Woodpecker War. Shamblin, Frost and Gibson were Jaybirds who sought to overthrow the Woodpecker Republican stronghold and deny Blacks the right to vote or run for office. They successfully led a bloody confrontation with the Woodpeckers and African-Americans were denied the right to vote in primary elections or hold public office until 1953.
An inscription on the obelisk reads: “Capable county government and their fellow citizens have reared this monument to their memory and as a promise to them that their principles shall be maintained for all time to come. Go stranger and to the Jaybirds tell, that for their country’s freedom they fell.”
Meanwhile, the current Richmond City Commission recognizes the divisiveness represented by monument and is acting on an ad hoc committee’s recommendation to move the monument from city property.
“Richmond thrives on being a place where hate and racial prejudices will not be tolerated,” the city of Richmond said in its statement. “The city seeks to preserve the history of the community while being sensitive to all members of the community.”
Ultimately, the maintenance of the monument would fall to the Hodges Bend Cemetery Association, which has agreed to house and maintain the monument.
For more information on the city of Richmond go to https://rosenbergtx.gov.
You didn't know? 
Leave a comment