Photo courtesy of Jessie W. Hall

A memorial in Rocky Mount dedicated to Rebel troops was destroyed by a motorist in June.

Almost a year after it was destroyed, the planned resurrection of a nearly 100-year-old historic Confederate statue in front of the Franklin County Courthouse is going to take a little more time.

In a matter of seconds last June, a driver's erratic operation of his Chevy S-10 pickup truck felled a statue of a Rebel soldier that was placed in front of the courthouse in Rocky Mount in 1910 to honor Civil War soldiers. According to a police account, John Ozmore may have had an epileptic seizure that caused him to cross South Main Street, hit a sidewalk and then smash into the statue, toppling it and breaking it into pieces.

"We felt like there was a death," said Linda Stanley, a special projects coordinator for the Franklin County Historical Society and a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. "We were so devastated."

A judge later fined Ozmore $40 for improper driving.

Since the accident, efforts have been under way to replace the statue and settle with Ozmore's insurance company.

This week, the Franklin County Board of Supervisors agreed to set up an account to collect the insurance money -- and donations -- that will pay for the statue's replacement. The county has received about $62,000 from its own insurance company and a $500 donation from former state Sen. Charles Hawkins of Chatham.

The most accurate cost estimate so far to create a new statue is about $163,000, said Mike Thurman, Franklin County's director of public facilities.

The county should soon receive an additional $100,000, the maximum amount that Ozmore's insurance will pay out, Thurman said.

"I think all the hurdles and obstacles of dealing with the insurance companies are behind us," he said. "Hopefully within the next week, we will have the funding all in place and then we can begin the procurement process immediately after that."

It will be up to the supervisors to choose the company that replaces the statue.

"This is something that we want to do right," Thurman said. "But this monument is close to 100 years old. It's a lot different than getting a replacement to a late model automobile. And that has been somewhat of a struggle over the last few months, to find people with the, how I would say, the correct or adequate resume who have dealt with something like this. People who do this type of work are somewhat limited."

Stanley said she's hopeful a statue will be back in front of the courthouse soon.

"It's a piece of our history. We just need to find a way to get it back up," she said.

The original statue was paid for and donated to the county by the Gen. Jubal A. Early Chapter of the UDC as a monument to Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War.

Much of the original statue has been preserved and is being stored in a secure location, Stanley said. It could be used as a guide for carving the new statue, which would likely be made out of marble with a granite base, Thurman said.

Stanley said the UDC would like to see the original statue restored.

"My thought would be, battle scars and all, we'd like to have it put back," she said.