[2] The idea for a public Confederate memorial in Savannah, Georgia began to gain traction in 1869, shortly after the relocation of Georgian soldiers killed at the Battle of Gettysburg to Laurel Grove Cemetery.

[3] While the association originally planned for the monument to be located in the Confederate section of Laurel Grove Cemetery, they ultimately decided to erect it in Forsyth Park.

This decision proved controversial with many in the general public, who pointed out that Forsyth Park was, at the time, on the outskirts of the city, but the association contended that the statue would be overshadowed by trees and surrounding architecture if it was placed in any of the squares of Savannah.

[5] Reid was given a great deal of artistic liberty in designing the monument, with the association only requiring that it feature a "life-sized figure worthy of the honor and respect due the common Confederate soldier".

[10] Julian Hartridge served as the ceremony's orator,[10] and in his speech, he compared the efforts of the Confederate soldiers to the patriots during the American Revolution,[11] saying "[t]hey had been sacrificed alike in the defense of constitutional liberty".

[4] In early 1878, prominent Savannah citizen George Wymberly Jones De Renne proposed replacing Silence, at his own expense, with a bronze statue of a Confederate soldier.

The Ladies' Memorial Association approved this idea in March and again in April, and following this, De Renne hired New York-based architect David Richards to craft the statue.

[4] Former Confederate Captain Hamilton Branch assisted Richards with the statue, sending him multiple articles of clothing he had worn in battle, as well as a rifle used during the war.

[4] Silence was relocated to the Confederate section of Laurel Grove Cemetery, while Judgment was sent to Thomasville, Georgia to be used as part of that town's Civil War memorial.

On June 18, 2020, the Savannah–Chatham County Historic Site and Monument Commission held a special meeting on the subject of the Civil War Memorial and passed a motion to send a letter in support of the task force recommendations and necessary budget allocations to the city council.