Clay County Histories
Markus Krueger | Program Director HCSCC
Felix Battles Monument Committee members with life-sized statue mockup
Moorhead will get a new monument this summer of an African American Civil War soldier. But we need your help to make it happen.
The project began five years ago. Back in 2018, our country was thinking a lot about Civil War statues. For the 153rd consecutive year since the war ended, we were asking “how should we remember the Civil War?” and “who should our heroes be?” I thought to myself “you know who deserves a statue more than Robert E. Lee? Felix Battles.” And then I thought, “hey, I’m an artist. I know other artists. Why don’t we make one?”
Who is Felix Battles? He might be the first Black resident of Fargo-Moorhead, arriving the year after our towns were founded, called by one newspaper “the pioneer barber of the Red River Valley.” Clay County archivist Mark Peihl has been researching Mr. Battles for three decades, but until this monument project, the story of this fascinating local figure rarely left the archives. Felix was born enslaved near Memphis. As a teenager, he seems to have escaped from a plantation near Holly Springs, Mississippi. He made his way north to St. Paul. He worked on steamboats until August 8, 1864, when he went to Fort Snelling and enlisted in the US Army. Corporal Battles helped destroy the last major Confederate army of the west at the Battle of Nashville. After the war, Felix, his wife Kate and several of Kate’s extended family members moved to the frontier town of Moorhead, helping to create our original African American community.
There are no known photographs of Felix Battles, so I took a photograph of an unidentified African American Civil War solder and turned it into a life-sized stencil. Lyle Landstrom, my artist/engineer/wild-biker-dude collaborator, is cutting that stencil out of a 9-foot-tall sheet of ¾” steel and making sure it doesn’t fall on anybody’s head once it’s up. Our historical society is handling the tax-deductible donations. When it’s finished, Felix’s statue will be one only about 40 monuments nation-wide dedicated to African American experiences of the Civil War, and a way for us to honor the often-overlooked African American pioneers of our region.
We formed a Felix Battles Monument Committee of Black community leaders to steer the project, including Dr. Yvonne Condell, Judge Johnathan Judd, Jered Pigeon, Rachel Stone, Gracia Sanchez-Dekarske, Dr. Earnest Lamb, Delson Saintal, Faith Shields-Dixon, Kayla Jones, and our historical society’s Gabby Clavo. Along with the help of Rick Henderson, Rick Dekarske, Ryan Nelson, and historical society staff. The committee recommended the site for the statue: Felix Battles’ old front lawn is right next to Minnesota State University Moorhead’s Paseka School of Business (a perfect site for a pioneer African American businessman). MSUM accepted our offer.
It is now a race to finish construction before the students return to campus in August. We raised $2000 in a day in 2018 to pay for the steel but our advisory committee set a goal of raising $10,000 for further expenses. Outdoor signage must be ordered to tell his story. Concrete must be purchased for a plowable sidewalk and a contractor hired to pour it. We decided a bench would be nice – where do you buy a park bench?
Would you like to help? Go to www.hcscconline.org/felixbattles or email me for more information.