ROCKY MOUNT -- The statue in front of the courthouse dedicated to the memory of the Confederate dead of Franklin County meant different things to residents in Rocky Mount.

Some viewed the statue as a symbol of patriotism and freedom.

Others viewed it has a symbol of hatred and bondage.

Nearly all were shocked when they learned that the statue was damaged following a crash in front of the Franklin County Courthouse on Thursday night.

A pickup truck driven by John Ozmore, 53, crossed into the northbound lane on South Main Street, hit a sidewalk and then smashed into the statue, toppling it, about 7:15 p.m.

Ozmore was charged with driving under the influence.

Charles Wagner, a member of the Franklin County Board of Supervisors, said the county should have an estimated cost to repair the damage by next week. At that point, the county will be able to discuss what should be done next.

The statue has stood in front of the courthouse since 1910, said Linda Stanley, who is the special projects coordinator for the Franklin County Historical Society and a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Stanley said the statue was donated to the county by the Gen. Jubal A. Early Chapter of the UDC after the board of supervisors of the time was unable to provide money for the project.

Over the years residents mistook the statue of a Confederate soldier as the county's famous native son Early, who fought in the war and later became a prosecutor for Franklin and Floyd counties, said local historian and physician Dr. Francis Amos.

"Gen. Early has a plaque on the site, but that's not him," Amos said. "The man in the statue carried a rifle. Gen. Early would have had a sword."

Stanley said that while the statue was raised to honor Confederate soldiers -- many such statues or monuments stand near courthouses in Virginia -- it came to symbolize all those in Franklin County who died in all wars over the years.

"That shows our patriotism," Stanley said. "I just wanted to know how quickly we could put it back up there. We are just deeply saddened."

Stanley said she wasn't sure who would be paying for the statue but said there were plenty of donors in line.

"We have people from all over who have called to see how they can help," Stanley said. "We are just waiting to see what the county will do."

The statue was erected 45 years after the end of the Civil War, at a time when the generation of Confederate war veterans was beginning to pass and the Confederacy was memorialized in some quarters of the South as the noble "Lost Cause." It was also a time when black Virginians were disenfranchised, subject to state-sanctioned discrimination and educated in segregated schools.

Nearly a century later, not everyone wants to celebrate the Civil War and its aftermath.

Ashley Childress, for one, said she was happy to learn the statue was damaged, and the county shouldn't replace it.

"It shouldn't have been there in the first place," said Childress, a lifelong resident of Rocky Mount. "If there was a slave in front of the courthouse, people would probably be burning crosses on everyone's doorstep."

April Camp, walking near the site Friday, said the statue should not be put back up in front of the courthouse, but instead in one of the war memorials.

"We shouldn't put something up that is so offensive to so many people," Camp said. "The courthouse is supposed to be a place of freedom and justice. Why would we put a statue there that symbolizes anything but freedom and justice?"

Darlene Swain, who runs the annual Warren Street Heritage Festival honoring black history in the town, said she is not against the statue's being replaced, but that if one is in front of the courthouse it should be inclusive of the entire community.

"I'm for anything that's positive," Swain said. "If we are going to celebrate history let's celebrate the entire history. We should have a black Confederate soldier there, too."

Elizabeth Greer, head of the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, said the statue wasn't political, pointing to the fact that renowned black educator Booker T. Washington donated money for the statue to be built.

"It is central to the identity of the county," Greer said. "Every courthouse in the North has a statue of a Union soldier, and every one in the South has a picture of a Confederate soldier. It's a part of who we are."