Locating Slavery's Legacies @ Sewanee: The University of the South

Memorial Object

Plaque/Marker

Lost Cause

Martin, William W.

Grave marker memorializing Captain W. W. Martin.

This grave marker is for the final resting place of Confederate Captain W.W. Martin, who was known as “The greatest benefactor of Hendrix'' and “Her dearest friend." Martin died on Dec. 13, 1911. In 1918, the Hendrix Board of Trustees got the permission of Martin’s family to move his body from its original grave to its final resting place on campus. The Hendrix community held a memorial service on October 26, 1918, to celebrate the life and new resting place of Captain Martin. Many pillars of the Conway community spoke at this commemoration, including Hendrix President Dr. J. H. Reynolds, who welcomed the large audience of Confederate veterans, saying, “No one was more welcome than those of the thinning line of grey." There was a granite monument with Martin’s name engraved placed on top of his grave in the summer of 1920. This granite tomb is no longer there, as it was replaced in 1937. In April of 1937, the Hendrix Board of Trustees added a larger monument to honor Captain Martin. Now marking the grave is a 5-ton boulder with a plaque. Arkansas Governor George W. Donaghey was the largest donor to fund this monument.

An inground grave covered with a 5-ton boulder with a plaque

Captain W. W. Martin. February 20, 1835. December 10,1911. As soldier, business man, mayor, citizen, philanthropist, and churchman, Captain Martin was a pioneer and a leader of men. His investment of time, thought and money in Hendrix College has multiplied itself a thousand fold, and will share for all time in the contributions of the college to human welfare.

Hendrix College Board of Trustees years 1918, 1920, 1937

Johnston, F. S. H.

Reynolds, J. H.

Donaghey, George

Anderson, James A.

Brough, Charles

Robins, Frank E.

26 October 1918

20 June 1920

April 1937

1890-1945: Era of the Lost Cause, Jim Crow legal segregation and discrimination, and organized anti-Black racism

Hendrix College Board of Trustees years 1918,1920,1937

Donaghey, George

Hendrix College; Conway, Arkansas

James E. Lester, Jr., Hendrix College: A Centennial History (Conway, Ar.: River Road Press, 1984), 82.