[28] In 1907, the North Carolina chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) decided that its next major goal was to be "the erection, on the campus at the State University, of a monument to the students and faculty, who went out from its walls in 1861 to fight and die for the South.

[34] Unlike his earlier Daniel A. Bean sculpture (an unarmed 15-year-old Union enlistee),[35] John A. Wilson depicted the infantryman armed with a rifle, but with no cartridge box on his belt.

[39] A smaller bronze plaque on the left side of the base says: Erected under the auspices of the North Carolina division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy aided by the alumni of the university[b]Another bronze plaque on the right reads: To the sons of the university who entered the War of 1861–65 in answer to the call of their country and whose lives taught the lesson of their great commander that duty is the sublimest word in the English language[b][40] "Duty is the sublimest word in the English language" is a quote from a letter attributed to Confederate commander Robert E. Lee, but revealed in 1914 to have been a forgery.

It will remind you, and those who come after you of the boys who left these peaceful classic shades for the hardships of armies at the front, for the fierce carnage of titanic battles, for suffering and for death.

[6][10]The dedication speech which has attracted the most subsequent notice was given by Julian Carr, a prominent industrialist, UNC alumnus and trustee, former Confederate soldier, and the largest single donor towards the construction of the monument.

[44] This speech has been described by UNC history professor W. Fitzhugh Brundage as one in which Carr "unambiguously urged his audience to devote themselves to the maintenance of white supremacy with the same vigor that their Confederate ancestors had defended slavery.

"[45] In it, Carr emphatically praised the student-soldiers and soldiers of the Confederate Army for their wartime valor and patriotism,[3] adding that the present generation ... scarcely takes note of what the Confederate soldier meant to the welfare of the Anglo Saxon race during the four years immediately succeeding the war ... Their courage and steadfastness saved the very life of the Anglo Saxon race in the South.According to Brundage, Carr's phrase "the four years immediately succeeding the war" is a clear reference to the Reconstruction era, when the Ku Klux Klan, working to restore the dominance of traditional white hierarchy in the South, terrorized blacks and white Republicans.

[45] Later in the speech; Carr stated: One hundred yards from where we stand, less than ninety days perhaps after my return from Appomattox, I horse-whipped a negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds, because upon the streets of this quiet village she had publicly insulted and maligned a Southern lady, and then rushed for protection to these University buildings where was stationed a garrison of 100 Federal soldiers.

Following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, the monument was vandalized with orange, green, red, and yellow iridescent paint,[31][50] including a hammer and sickle.

[31] In 2003, Gerald Horne, at that time director of the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History, in a letter to The Daily Tar Heel, called the monument "an eyesore".

Carr's speech, in which he praised the Confederate soldier as a defender of the "Anglo Saxon race" and bragged about whipping an African-American woman "until her skirts hung in shreds", became a galvanizing force in activists' efforts to get the statue removed.

[61] In late July 2015, the North Carolina General Assembly passed SL 2015–170, the Cultural History Artifact Management and Patriotism Act of 2015, which states that "An object of remembrance [defined as "monument, memorial, or work of art"] located on public property may not be permanently removed".

On August 21 Chancellor Folt issued a message urging students not to attend the rally scheduled for the next day, "considering the potential for a highly charged atmosphere and the very real possibility for confrontation with outside groups.

[74][81] Folt replied that despite the governor's advice, the university did not think it could say it was a "risk to public safety" in the sense intended by the 2015 law,[77][83] which refers to "a building inspector or similar official" making that determination, "where the statue itself poses a physical hazard.

"[87] UNC's board of trustees then released a statement supporting Folt, saying: "Above all, regardless of the circumstance, the chancellor has a responsibility to the people of North Carolina to uphold all state laws.

"[90] On September 6, 2017, demonstrators chanted and made noise with drums, pots and pans, birthday party horns, and "anything they could get their hands on" in front of South Building, where Chancellor Folt's office is.

Their stated intent was "disrupt[ing] business as usual", and they unusuccessfully asked Chancellor Folt to listen to their reasons why they felt Silent Sam should be removed.

"[92] (The decision, which arrived two days after Silent Sam was toppled, was negative, as the North Carolina Historical Commission found that the law did not allow them to approve the request.

This disparaging and marginalizing symbol has no place at the core of an inclusive learning environment.... We also believe that the message it sends undercuts the University's mission "to teach a diverse community of undergraduate, graduate, and professional students to become the next generation of leaders.

"[98] The UNC Department of Geography, in a letter reported on November 9, stated that Silent Sam "contradicts values of diversity, social justice and anti-violence that our discipline embraces....

[103] On April 30, 2018, Maya Little defaced the statue, which she called "a symbol of UNC's commitment to white supremacy",[94] with a mixture of red ink (some sources say paint) and her own blood.

[107] The statue cleaning began within minutes, although at her trial, "a campus maintenance supervisor testified it took several days to remove red stains at a cost of about $4,000 in supplies and labor".

It’s almost like heaven is trying to wash away the soiled contaminated remains.On the night of August 20, 2018, the day before the 2018–19 academic year began, another "Remove Silent Sam" rally was held,[16] beginning with speakers at 7 p.m.

", "For a world without white supremacy", and a list of victims of racial violence (beginning with "Unnamed Black woman beaten by Julian Carr")[3] were held around the monument, blocking it from view while heavy ropes were tied to it.

[140] At an earlier September 5 meeting on the campus, "residents" asked the town to reconsider its relationship with the Greensboro Police Department, whose Special Operations Division was called in to assist with crowd control during the August 30 protest.

[186][187] On August 28, 41 department chairs in the College of Arts and Sciences sent a letter to Chancellor Folt opposing the return of Silent Sam to its pedestal or any prominent location on campus.

[188] At the end of August, 37 Chapel Hill faith leaders wrote an open letter saying that "returning Silent Sam to its previous location furthers the goal of those who originally put it there: venerating white supremacy, and denigrating people of color.

"The civic, economic, emotional, and cultural well-being of our community, as well as the university's educational mission, will suffer continued damage by the presence of the monument on McCorkle Place.

[202] On February 12, 2020, after the statue and money had been handed over to the SCV, Orange County Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour, who had originally approved the settlement, overturned it, noting that the deal had been agreed before the lawsuit existed, and ruling that the Sons of Confederate Veterans lacked standing for the suit.

[206] According to the Carolina Journal in September 2018, the controversy surrounding Silent Sam was becoming a political issue that could affect the 2018 elections in the state,[185] "a development that, in most cases, would hurt Democrats".