Only days left for Confederate monument to be erected at Arlington National Cemetery
ARLINGTON, Va. — A Confederate monument is scheduled to be removed from Arlington National Cemetery in northern Virginia in the coming days, cemetery officials said as part of an effort to remove Confederate symbols from military facilities. It was announced on Saturday.
The decision ignores a recent request from more than 40 Republican lawmakers that the Pentagon pause efforts to dismantle and remove monuments from Arlington Cemetery.
Arlington National Cemetery said in an email that safety fencing has been installed around the monument, and officials expect removal to be complete by Dec. 22. Arlington National Cemetery says the surrounding landscape, graves and headstones will be protected during the removal.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin disagrees with the decision and plans to move the monument to Newmarket Battlefield State Historical Park in the Shenandoah Valley, Youngkin spokesman Macaulay Porter said.
In 2022, an independent commission recommended that the monument be removed as part of its final report to Congress on the renaming of military bases and properties commemorating the Confederacy.
The statue, unveiled in 1914, features a bronze woman crowned with an olive leaf, standing on a 32-foot-tall pedestal, and was designed to represent the American South. According to Arrington, the woman carried a laurel wreath, a plowshare, and a pruning hook, and at her feet was a Biblical inscription that read, “They smashed her sword into a plowshare, and her spear into a pruning hook.” is engraved.
The statue also includes a black woman depicted as “Mama” holding a child believed to be the child of a white officer, and an enslaved man who followed his owner to war.
In a recent letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, more than 40 House Republicans said the committee overstepped its authority by recommending the monument’s removal. Lawmakers argued that the monument “does not glorify or commemorate the Confederacy.” This monument commemorates reconciliation and national unity. ”
“The Department of Defense must respect Congress’ clear legislative intent regarding the naming commission’s legislative authority,” the letter said.
U.S. Representative Andrew Clyde (Georgia Republican) is leading the effort to stop the monument’s removal. Clyde’s office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Saturday.
According to the cemetery, preparations for the monument’s removal and relocation have been completed. The monument’s bronze elements will be relocated, but the granite base and foundation will remain in place so as not to disturb the surrounding graves.
Earlier this year, Fort Bragg dropped its Confederate name and became Fort Liberty. This is part of the Pentagon’s broader initiative to rename military installations named after Confederate soldiers in the wake of the 2020 George Floyd protests.
The North Carolina base was originally named in 1918 for General Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general from Warrenton, North Carolina. General Braxton Bragg was known for owning slaves and losing major battles of the Civil War that contributed to the collapse of the Confederacy.
The Black Lives Matter protests that erupted across the United States after the killing of Floyd by a white police officer, combined with continued efforts to remove Confederate monuments, have put a spotlight on military installations. A naming committee established by Congress visited the base and met with members of the surrounding community to solicit input.