Statue honoring Black Civil War hero to stand on MSUM campus
Kevin Wallevand / WDAY News The statue of Felix Battles will employ a silhouette similar to this one. No known image of Battles exists.
Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County No known photo of Felix Battles exists, so Markus Krueger created the mock-up from a photo of a different unnamed USCT soldier.
MOORHEAD — At Sanders Metal Products in north Fargo, there is the sound of presses and machinery at work, where high-pressure water and sand begin to carve and cut out a metal silhouette statue of Felix Battles.
A project that started back in 2018, a statue to commemorate Battles 150 years after he arrived to the area, will be erected on the Minnesota State University Moorhead campus near the Paseka School of Business.
It is part of a project to honor him for his courage and entrepreneurial spirit.
Battles arrived here after first escaping slavery and then serving in the Union Army during the Civil War.
Battles came to town when Fargo-Moorhead was just being settled, and was a respected barber in Moorhead, with shops on what is now Center Avenue.
Markus Krueger, a programming director with the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County who started the project said, “he was born a slave in Memphis, he grew up on a plantation.”
Clay County historians have found documents saying that, as an enslaved boy, plantation owners put Battles’ value at $600.
“As a teenager he escaped the plantation and made his way to Minnesota,” Krueger said.
Battles ended up in Minnesota, working the steamboats before heading off to fight in the Civil War.
“On August 8, 1864, Felix Battles went to Ft. Snelling and joined the U.S. Army,” Krueger said.
Battles joined the famous 18th United States Colored Infantry, which played a pivotal role in one of the famous Civil War battles.
He fought in the pivotal Battle of Nashville in 1864, one of the Union Army’s largest victories during the war.
After the Civil War, Battles worked for the railroad. That led him back to Minnesota and Moorhead, where he opened up barbershops on Center Avenue in Moorhead.
“Newspapers called him the Pioneer Barber of Clay County,” Krueger said.
The Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County and others have been working on this statue to honor Battles.
The MSUM site was chosen in part because Battles’ old home stood next to the Paseka School of Business, according the HCSCC website.
“At the time when Felix was going through all of this, he probably didn’t think years later all of this would happen,”
Delson Saintal, a local barber, barbershop and barber school owner, said.
Delson Saintal, a Concordia graduate and owner of several regional barber shops and a barber school, says the statue will be a good learning tool.
“He was a pioneer barber here in the FM area and like you said, it probably wasn’t easy, but it is great history and I am so excited to be a part of this,” Saintal said.
Battles is buried in north Moorhead, the city he called home. While no photo of him exists, his life is hard to forget.
And soon, his courage and contributions will stand tall for all to see.
It is costing the project organizers about $10,000 to get the statue built and installed on a cement slab at MSUM.
Donations are being accepted at the Clay County Historical Society.
A project that started back in 2018, a statue to commemorate Battles 150 years after he arrived to the area, will be erected on the Minnesota State University Moorhead campus near the Paseka School of Business.
It is part of a project to honor him for his courage and entrepreneurial spirit.
Battles arrived here after first escaping slavery and then serving in the Union Army during the Civil War.
Battles came to town when Fargo-Moorhead was just being settled, and was a respected barber in Moorhead, with shops on what is now Center Avenue.
Markus Krueger, a programming director with the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County who started the project said, “he was born a slave in Memphis, he grew up on a plantation.”
Clay County historians have found documents saying that, as an enslaved boy, plantation owners put Battles’ value at $600.
“As a teenager he escaped the plantation and made his way to Minnesota,” Krueger said.
Battles ended up in Minnesota, working the steamboats before heading off to fight in the Civil War.
“On August 8, 1864, Felix Battles went to Ft. Snelling and joined the U.S. Army,” Krueger said.
Battles joined the famous 18th United States Colored Infantry, which played a pivotal role in one of the famous Civil War battles.
He fought in the pivotal Battle of Nashville in 1864, one of the Union Army’s largest victories during the war.
After the Civil War, Battles worked for the railroad. That led him back to Minnesota and Moorhead, where he opened up barbershops on Center Avenue in Moorhead.
“Newspapers called him the Pioneer Barber of Clay County,” Krueger said.
The Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County and others have been working on this statue to honor Battles.
The MSUM site was chosen in part because Battles’ old home stood next to the Paseka School of Business, according the HCSCC website.
“At the time when Felix was going through all of this, he probably didn’t think years later all of this would happen,”
Delson Saintal, a local barber, barbershop and barber school owner, said.
Delson Saintal, a Concordia graduate and owner of several regional barber shops and a barber school, says the statue will be a good learning tool.
“He was a pioneer barber here in the FM area and like you said, it probably wasn’t easy, but it is great history and I am so excited to be a part of this,” Saintal said.
Battles is buried in north Moorhead, the city he called home. While no photo of him exists, his life is hard to forget.
And soon, his courage and contributions will stand tall for all to see.
It is costing the project organizers about $10,000 to get the statue built and installed on a cement slab at MSUM.
Donations are being accepted at the Clay County Historical Society.