Confederate Monument Is Now in New Home in DeSoto Parish

The Confederate Monument that stood outside the Caddo Parish Courthouse for more than 100 years has now been reassembled at its new home in DeSoto Parish.

The monument was moved after a lengthy legal fight between the Caddo Parish Commission and the Shreveport Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The UDC owns the monument, but there was a dispute over who owned the property the monument was on at the courthouse. In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a U.S. District Court decision in favor of the Caddo Commission to remove the monument. Commissioners voted to spend nearly $800,000 to move the massive structure.

The monument was erected at the site way back in 1905. There has been a lot of concern about the move and how the monument would hold up.

Energy Services and Products from Tampa took a couple of weeks to move the monument. They removed and wrapped the busts of four Confederate generals – Robert E. Lee, P. G. T. Beauregard, Stonewall Jackson and Henry Watkins Allen during phase one of the project and then quickly moved the stone base. During the process they did discover time capsules hidden inside the monument.

The monument is now on display at the Battle of Pleasant Hill site which is private property in DeSoto Parish.