On December 13, 1862, during the U.S. Civil War, the Union Army suffered its most calamitous and tragic defeat to date at the hands of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia on the frozen fields south of Fredericksburg, Virginia.
After taking over for the paradoxically arrogant yet timid Maj. Gen. George McClellan following the blood-letting at Antietam in September, the new Union Army commander Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside was tasked by President Lincoln to vigorously pursue and destroy CSA Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army now encamped in the Shenandoah Valley in that state. Despite harboring doubts about his own abilities as an army commander, the affable and dapper Burnside concocted a plan to dash due south and lay a pontoon bridge over the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg. His aim was to get ahead of Lee’s army farther to the west and race for Richmond, the Southern Confederacy’s capital.
<div id="attachment_843789" style="width: 597px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-843789" class="size-large wp-image-843789" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-90001933-587x576.jpg" alt="UNITED STATES - CIRCA 1863: Warrenton, Virginia. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside and staff officers (Photo by Buyenlarge/Getty Images)" width="587" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-90001933-587x576.jpg 587w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-90001933-300x294.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-90001933-768x754.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-90001933.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 587px) 100vw, 587px" />UNITED STATES &#8211; CIRCA 1863: Warrenton, Virginia. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside and staff officers (Photo by Buyenlarge/Getty Images)</div>
But Burnside&#8217;s plan that relied on speed and surprise almost immediately went awry. The pontoon bridges needed to affect the river crossing were delayed by ten days. By the time they arrived and construction began, Lee had marched his army to Fredericksburg. The Rebels took up a nearly impregnable position south of the town on a rise called Marye’s Heights that presented the defenders with a commanding view of the city and open ground before them.
<div id="attachment_843801" style="width: 837px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-843801" class="size-large wp-image-843801" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090033-827x576.jpg" alt="13th December 1862: Union troops attempting to cross the Rappahannock river during the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)" width="827" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090033-827x576.jpg 827w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090033-300x209.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090033-768x535.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090033.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 827px) 100vw, 827px" />13th December 1862: Union troops attempting to cross the Rappahannock river during the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)</div>
Despite his plan being foiled — his anxious engineers found themselves laying the pontoon bridges under fire from Rebel snipers who occupied the town along the river bank — the unimaginative Burnside pressed forward anyway. Following a bombardment that all but destroyed the little town, Yankee troops marched over the bridges and fought their way through the streets, whereupon many shamelessly looted the abandoned homes and shops until officers could corral them back into their ranks. The Yankees then formed up for the doomed assault against Lee’s lines.
What the Union troops faced was the suicidal prospect of crossing a half-mile of open, sloping ground to assault a solid line of veteran Rebel troops massed behind the protection of both a sunken road and high stone wall backed by artillery lined hub-to-hub along the crest of the hill before them. While watching the lines of Union blue forming up to make their attack, Lee’s First Corps commander on the Marye’s Heights sector of the line, Gen. James Longstreet, asked his young artillerist, Col. E.P. Alexander, if he thought the position was defensible. Alexander assured him: “General, a chicken can’t live in that field when we open up on it!”
<div id="attachment_843811" style="width: 765px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-843811" class="size-large wp-image-843811" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-103011593-755x576.jpg" alt="A Union Army battery makes final preparations on the day before the Battle of Fredericksburg, on Marye's Heights, Virginia, USA, December 1862. (Photo by Kean Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images)" width="755" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-103011593-755x576.jpg 755w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-103011593-300x229.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-103011593-768x586.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-103011593.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 755px) 100vw, 755px" />A Union Army battery makes final preparations on the day before the Battle of Fredericksburg, on Marye&#8217;s Heights, Virginia, USA, December 1862. (Photo by Kean Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images)</div>
And so began a series of ill-advised charges up the slopes of Marye’s Heights by a Union Army that proved itself to be as brave as any army in any field; but they were doomed nonetheless. The Confederate lines were so concentrated that for every man at the wall shooting down into the slowly approaching Union lines, two stood behind them with loaded and rammed rifles at the ready to hand the marksman one weapon after another, giving the stone wall’s rate of fire the effect of a machine gun — with the same grisly efficiency. As Alexander predicted, whirring, bouncing projectiles fired from his overheating guns tore into the compact blue formations, killing and maiming groups of men with each round. Thousands of Union troops totaling six divisions were fed into the Rebel meat grinder, one brigade at a time.
Watching the slaughter from his vantage point above the fighting, Gen. Lee, his stirred warrior blood struggling for equilibrium with his humanitarian nature, offered somberly: “It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it.”
<div id="attachment_843805" style="width: 468px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-843805" class="size-large wp-image-843805" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090032-458x576.jpg" alt="7th November 1862: Confederate General Robert E Lee (1807 - 1870) at the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Lee was offered the command of the Union Army but although personally opposed to both slavery and secession, his loyalty to Virginia led to his taking command of the Confederate forces. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)" width="458" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090032-458x576.jpg 458w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090032-239x300.jpg 239w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090032-768x965.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090032.jpg 815w" sizes=" (max-width: 458px) 100vw, 458px" />7th November 1862: Confederate General Robert E Lee (1807 &#8211; 1870) at the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)</div>
After fourteen assaults some 13,300 Union dead and wounded lay strewn in a veritable carpet of blue before the smoke-obscured Confederate lines (to the South&#8217;s 4,500, many of whom listed as &#8220;missing&#8221; had just slipped away to nearby homesteads for Christmas). Although he contemplated continuing the forlorn attack, Burnside was convinced by his corps commanders that any new assaults would be just as fruitless and bloody so he called the battle off. (Burnside actually wanted to lead a final charge himself, so distraught was he over the carnage he’d unnecessarily inflicted on an army he sincerely loved).
The Union attack against 2nd Corps Commander &#8220;Stonewall&#8221; Jackson&#8217;s more exposed lines east of Marye&#8217;s Heights situated in lower swampland on Lee&#8217;s right did actually make some progress, but this attack too was repulsed.
For two days in the bitter December cold, the shivering Union survivors trapped in the no-man&#8217;s land between the heights and the town, hunkered down on the frozen ground. Many shielded themselves from Rebels taking shots at them from behind the stone wall by piling up the bodies of their fallen comrades to act as macabre breastworks. Soldiers would always remember the sound of .566 rounds thudding into the stiff cadavers. At night the eerie lights of a rare Southern aurora borealis flashed overhead in the starry sky, which the Confederates took as a sign that God Himself was celebrating their astounding one-sided victory.
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The surviving Union troops eventually withdrew from the corpse-laden field and made it back through the town and across the Rappahannock to safety.
Col. Joshua Chamberlain of the 20th Maine recounted the retreat under the shroud of night. &#8220;We had to pick our way over a field strewn with incongruous ruin; men born and broken and cut to pieces in every indescribable way, cannon dismounted, gun carriages smashed or overturned, ammunition chests flung wildly about, horses dead and half-dead still held in harness, accoutrements of every sort scattered as by whirlwinds. It was not good for the nerves, that ghastly march, in the lowering night!&#8221;
After one more botched offensive in late January, during which his plans were foiled by a torrential rainstorm rather than Rebel bullets (forever remembered to history as the &#8220;Mud March&#8221;) Gen. Burnside resigned as army commander. He was replaced by Gen. Joe Hooker — Lincoln’s fifth new commanding general in two years.
When the Confederates re-occupied the shattered and ransacked Virginia town, Lee asked Jackson how they could put an end to this terrible war and all its needless desolation. “Kill them,” Jackson said coldly while surveying the ruins. “Kill them all!”
* * *
Brad Schaeffer is a fund manager and author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07MQJBJSD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three books</a>. His articles have appeared on the pages of Daily Wire, The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, New York Daily News, National Review, The Hill, The Federalist, The Blaze, Breitbart, Zerohedge and other outlets.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

The Mud March

‘It Is Well That War Is So Terrible’: The Battle Of Fredericksburg

'It Is Well That War Is So Terrible': The Battle Of Fredericksburg

Abraham Lincoln

American General

American History

Civil War

Confederacy

Robert E. Lee

U.S. Military

Virginia

Over the years, the United States has produced many remarkable generals and admirals, but only a few have stood out as world-class strategists and leaders of troops. As Veterans Day approaches on November 11, let’s remember and celebrate them. Here is my list of America’s finest 11 commanders.
This series is about military prowess and those who excelled on the battlefield. The inclusion of any Confederates in this list should not be misconstrued as in any way supporting the cause of the self-described Slave-Holding Confederacy itself for which such men fought. The preservation of the monstrous injustice of slavery in North America and the stated goal of the seceding states had to be destroyed. But this does not diminish the achievements of certain Southern generals on the field of battle, which is solely what this series seeks to examine.
<h2>Robert E. Lee, 1807 &#8211; 1870 (Civil War)</h2>
An officer who served with Lee once said of him: “His name might be audacity. He will take more desperate chances and take them quicker than any other general in this country, North or South.” This was an apt description of the man the Northerners came to know as “The Gray Fox.” Yes, Lee was fighting against the U.S. and not for it. However, he was still very much the product of the American military tradition, and it would be remiss to not include him for brilliance as a battlefield commander, even if his choice of political causes was disastrous. The fact is, Lee, as the historian Shelby Foote noted: “Is a great general on both the offense and the defense.” And few commanders have managed to fight so long and effectively while being so out-manned, out-gunned, out-fed, and out-supplied as Lee.
<div id="attachment_648329" style="width: 364px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-648329" class="size-large wp-image-648329" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-114951008-354x576.jpg" alt="American Confederate Army general Robert E Lee (1807 - 1870), Richmond, Virginia, 16th April 1865. (Photo by Mathew Brady/FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images)" width="354" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-114951008-354x576.jpg 354w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-114951008-185x300.jpg 185w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-114951008.jpg 630w" sizes=" (max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px" />American Confederate Army general Robert E Lee (1807 &#8211; 1870), Richmond, Virginia, 16th April 1865. (Photo by Mathew Brady/FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images)</div>
At the outset of the Civil War, Robert E. Lee was America’s most prominent soldier. Son of the Revolutionary War hero “Light Horse Harry” Lee, he was from one of the first families of Virginia. Having turned down Lincoln’s offer to command the Union Army, Lee would end up taking over the premiere Confederate Army being pressed back against the capital of Richmond in June 1862 after Gen. Joe Johnston was wounded. Within two months Lee counterattacked Union general George McClellan’s advancing Yankees at the brutal Battle of the Seven Days on the outskirts of the city and sent him sailing back to Washington D.C., saving the rebel capital.
Then, while one Union army was effectively off the chessboard in transit, Lee pivoted north to face another threat. In a masterful campaign, he marched his army up northern Virginia to intercept, out-maneuver, and defeat a second Union army under Gen. John Pope at 2nd Bull Run (August 1862). In the three months he’d been in command, Lee had rescued the Southern capital, defeated two different armies while inflicting some 30,000 Union casualties, and cleared the entire state of Virginia of enemy troops. It was a remarkable turn of fortune that put the North on notice that a clever and dangerous foe was now in command of the South’s principal army.
<div id="attachment_648331" style="width: 892px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-648331" class="size-large wp-image-648331" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-99645445-882x576.jpg" alt="An illustration of Thomas Stonewall Jackson at the Battle of Bull Run, during the US civil war, circa 1863. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)" width="882" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-99645445-882x576.jpg 882w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-99645445-300x196.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-99645445-768x502.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-99645445.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 882px) 100vw, 882px" />An illustration of Thomas Stonewall Jackson at the Battle of Bull Run, during the US civil war, circa 1863. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)</div>
Although his vaunted Army of Northern Virginia was exhausted, ill-fed, and clothed from a poor supply chain and constant marching and fighting, Lee nevertheless gambled on an invasion of Maryland. Believing a Confederate victory on Union soil would convince Great Britain and France to form an alliance, his hopes were dashed when McClellan and his 87,000-man Army Of The Potomac, back from the peninsula and now infused with the remnants of Pope’s army, stopped him along the banks of the Antietam Creek in September 1862. In the bloodiest single day in U.S. history, Lee showed tactical brilliance in the field by holding off repeated attacks by a determined Union army twice his size, fighting McClellan to a stalemate. Nevertheless, Lee retired back into Virginia to recoup his losses and await the North’s next move.
In December 1862 a new Union commander, Gen. Ambrose Burnside, attempted to cross the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg and march on Richmond. Lee was waiting and delivered the most one-sided victory of his command, laying waste to 12,000 Union troops with little loss of his own.
Burnside, like Pope and McClellan before him, was relieved of command and a new, confident Gen. Joe Hooker was next up as head of the Army Of The Potomac. This time Hooker surprised the Confederates with a well-conceived pincer attack, crossing the Rappahannock at several points to fall on both Lee’s flanks at Fredericksburg on the Confederate right and the Wilderness, a dense woods, on the left. Hooker confidently predicted that in the face of this squeezing attack, Lee would be compelled to either retreat or be destroyed in a pitch battle against overwhelming odds. Instead, the unperturbed rebel commander responded to Hooker’s boldness in kind and out-flanked the flanker. At the Battle of Chancellorsville (considered a military masterpiece) Lee divided his inferior army and took an enormous chance by sending half of it under his indomitable corps commander Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson to hit Hooker seven miles to the west on his exposed flank amidst the impenetrable Wilderness. The attack was a complete surprise and rolled up the Union Army’s shattered flank. Hooker, like the preceding generals who’d attempted to outfox the fox, retreated.
<div id="attachment_648337" style="width: 831px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-648337" class="size-large wp-image-648337" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-3427049-821x576.jpg" alt="1863: The Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)" width="821" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-3427049-821x576.jpg 821w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-3427049-300x211.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-3427049-768x539.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-3427049-1536x1078.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-3427049-2048x1437.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 821px) 100vw, 821px" />1863: The Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)</div>
Though bloody (Lee suffered 25% casualties) his stunning victory at Chancellorsville prompted Lee to head north again. This time, however, he faced an Army Of The Potomac now being led by the competent and cool George Meade. In July 1863, during a three-day struggle around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Lee was dealt his worst loss of the war, losing some 27,000 out of the 75,000 men he brought north. He retreated back into Virginia, never to go on “the aggressive” as he called it again.
<div id="attachment_648559" style="width: 782px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-648559" class="size-large wp-image-648559" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-99858355-772x576.jpg" alt="Confederate prisoners at Seminary ridge during the battle of Gettysburg in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania circa July,1863. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)" width="772" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-99858355-772x576.jpg 772w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-99858355-300x224.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-99858355-768x573.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-99858355.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 772px) 100vw, 772px" />Confederate prisoners at Seminary ridge during the battle of Gettysburg in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania circa July,1863. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)</div>
By the summer of 1864, with no hope of foreign intervention, and lacking the strength for any more offensive actions in the face of an overwhelming Union superiority in manpower and industry, Lee would grapple with U.S. Grant, his final and most formidable foe. The two gifted commanders fought a series of brutal engagements across the Virginia countryside from The Wilderness and Spotsylvania (May 1864) to Cold Harbor (June 1864) and finally settling in for a siege at Petersburg that would last nine months. Although weakened, Lee saw that his situation was not so hopeless as it appeared. He’d effectively halted Grant’s thrust towards Richmond and now the two armies were at loggerheads southeast of the capital at Petersburg. And Lee had managed to inflict over 50,000 casualties on his Northern enemy.
Understanding that wars are political as well as military, General Lee realized that with the 1864 elections approaching, the high casualties the war weary North was suffering at his hands might be enough to vote out Lincoln and prompt a more pro-South Democrat administration which might welcome the rebellious states back into the Union, or even let the South go its own way. But due to the actions of another Union commander further up our list, this political upheaval did not come to pass. When Lincoln handily won re-election in November 1864, the South was doomed. A tired but resplendently-uniformed Robert E. Lee surrendered what remained of the surrounded Army of Northern Virginia to the mud-splattered Grant in April 1865.
<div id="attachment_648339" style="width: 798px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-648339" class="size-large wp-image-648339" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-1249715907-788x576.jpg" alt="Vintage illustration at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia depicts Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendering his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865, effectively ending the American Civil War." width="788" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-1249715907-788x576.jpg 788w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-1249715907-300x219.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-1249715907-768x561.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-1249715907-1536x1123.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/GettyImages-1249715907.jpg 2025w" sizes=" (max-width: 788px) 100vw, 788px" />Vintage illustration at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia depicts Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendering his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865, effectively ending the American Civil War. Keith Lance. Getty Images.</div>
Lee went on to head Washington College (later renamed Washington And Lee) and died in 1870 of a chronic heart ailment.
Robert E. Lee has been called a “marble man” for his stoicism and almost impenetrable personality; following the Civil War, he was idolized in the South to the point of being a demigod. But, Lee was just a man, like any other, and as such showed flaws…some of which could be quite detrimental to his cause. Most damning was his tendency to be profligate with his men’s lives. Indeed, the historian James McPherson calculated that Lee suffered the highest casualties as a percent of those under his command than any other army commander of the war, North or South. Lee’s confidence in the almost superhuman capacity of his troops to overcome all odds prompted him to send them into suicidal charges against well-prepared Union positions at Malvern Hill (June 1862) and again at Gettysburg a year later. It was, in fact, a very dangerous business fighting for “Marse Robert”.
Still, his men adored him. One man in the ranks declared, “I would charge hell itself for that old man!” So commanding a martial figure did Lee cut that once when the Confederates were marching through a Pennsylvania town, a brave loyal Union woman was brazenly waving the American flag before them. Then Lee rode up to her and looked down from his white horse Traveller. She dropped the flag, clasped her hands together and said of Lee: “Oh how I wish he were ours!”
Although Lee fought for an unjust cause in the preservation of slavery — one that had to be destroyed — there is no doubt that his campaigns will be studied in military academies as long as such institutions exist.
* * *
America’s Top 11 Generals
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-top-11-generals-11-curtis-e-lemay" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: #11 Curtis E. LeMay</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-top-11-generals-10-matthew-ridgway" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: #10 Matthew Ridgway</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-top-11-generals-9-nathanael-greene" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: #9 Nathanael Greene</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-top-11-generals-8-george-patton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: #8 George Patton</a>
* * *
Brad Schaeffer is a commodities trader, columnist, and author of two acclaimed novels. His newest book, the fact-based <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Life-Pits-Rough-Tumble-Exchange/dp/B0CKPNCMQW/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=1331509151681009&amp;hvadid=83219665089301&amp;hvbmt=bp&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvlocphy=97755&amp;hvnetw=o&amp;hvqmt=p&amp;hvtargid=kwd-83219680392082%3Aloc-190&amp;hydadcr=18892_13467888&amp;keywords=brad+schaeffer&amp;qid=1698162015&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LIFE IN THE PITS: My Time as a Trader on the Rough-and-Tumble Exchange Floors</a> will be published in December and is currently available for pre-order. You can also find more of Brad’s articles on <a href="https://bradschaeffer.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Substack</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Vintage Civil War photo of Confederate Civil War General Robert E. Lee.

America’s Top 11 Generals: #7 Robert E. Lee

America's Top 11 Generals: #7 Robert E. Lee

American Civil War

Readers Pass

Virginia Memorial Featuring General Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg

Why The Destruction Of Statues Is A Proxy In The Overall War On American History

Charlottesville

Matt Walsh

Washington &amp; Lee University, initially named Augusta Academy, then Liberty Hall Academy before being renamed for America’s first president George Washington and Confederate General Robert E. Lee, has removed the plaque honoring Lee’s famed steed Traveller.
The plaque was mounted over Traveller’s gravesite outside Lee Chapel, which is a National Historic Landmark. It read, “The last home of Traveller. Through war and peace the faithful, devoted and beloved horse of General Robert Lee. Placed by the Virginia Division, United Daughters of the Confederacy.” Last month, the university removed plaques from the room where Lee took his oath of office when he was inaugurated as president of the school in 1865 and his office from 1865-68.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;and the horse you rode in on.&quot; It appears that Washington and Lee University is not only cancelling Lee but even his horse. <a href="https://t.co/CyWXu5uhzy">https://t.co/CyWXu5uhzy</a> Traveler was originally put down for untreatable tetanus but will now be put down again by equally untreatable cancel culture.
&mdash; Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonathanTurley/status/1688869534097080321?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 8, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“Traveller was a beloved part of the campus story,” Kamron Spivey, president of Students for Historical Preservation, told <a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/canceled-washington-lee-university-removes-plaque-honoring-robert-e-lees-horse/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The College Fix</a>. “People like to hear tales about animals because they do no wrong. That is how Traveller has been immortalized in campus history. He was a faithful horse whose beauty and loyalty Robert E. Lee said would inspire poets. Until this month, very few people seemed bothered by the horse.”
“Due to a misappreciation of Lee’s contributions and positive legacy as an educator, university officials think any reference to the man is detracting from student enrollment. Rather than confront the issue directly, they are trying to secretly hide their history from the world,” Spivey continued. “The university should keep the original markers. If the goal is to contextualize a historic site, there is no better place than the original location they were erected.”
Augusta Academy was founded in 1749 and moved several times before being renamed Liberty Hall Academy in 1776 as a tribute to the American revolutionaries. By 1796 the school was having financial trouble; U.S. President George Washington donated 100 shares of James River Canal Company stock — a huge donation at the time — which he had received as a gift from the Virginia General Assembly for recognition of his service to Virginia. It still contributes to the university&#8217;s operating budget.
The grateful trustees changed the name of the institution to Washington Academy. Washington responded, “To promote Literature in this rising Empire, and to encourage the Arts, have ever been among the warmest wishes of my heart.” In 1813, Washington Academy became Washington College.
Four months after Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, the Washington College board of trustees invited Lee to become president of the college. Over the next five years, Lee “incorporated the local law school; instituted undergraduate courses in business and journalism; introduced modern languages and applied mathematics; and expanded offerings in the natural sciences,” the university’s website <a href="https://www.wlu.edu/the-w-l-story/university-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">states</a>, adding, “Lee also endorsed a lasting tradition of student self-governance, putting the students in charge of the honor system that the faculty had previously overseen.”
After his death in 1870, the faculty asked for the college to be renamed in Lee&#8217;s honor, thus creating Washington and Lee University.
The University’s Board of Trustees <a href="https://www.wlu.edu/the-w-l-story/leadership/board-of-trustees/messages-from-the-board-2/the-future-of-washington-and-lee-university/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> in 2021, “Our community holds passionate and divergent opinions about our name. The association with our namesakes can be painful to those who continue to experience racism, especially to African Americans, and is seen by some as an impediment to our efforts to attract and support a diverse community. For others, our name is an appropriate recognition of the specific and significant contributions each man made directly to our institution.”

Robert E. Lee Monument

Plaque Honoring Robert E. Lee’s Horse Removed At Washington & Lee University

Horse

Racism

U.S.

Washington &amp; Lee University

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/west-point" target="_blank" rel="noopener">West Point</a> has begun to remove monuments and references that “commemorate or memorialize the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/confederacy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Confederacy</a>,” the academy announced last week. 
The 220-year-old U.S. military academy said it had begun a “multi-phase” process over the holiday break to remove all 13 references and monuments that West Point says honor the Confederacy, including a portrait and bust of former West Point Superintendent Gen. Robert E. Lee, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/25/politics/west-point-to-remove-confederate-monuments/index.html">reported</a>. The removal is in response to an October order from the Department of Defense (DOD) mandated in the National Defense Authorization Act. 
“During the holiday break, we will begin a multi-phased process, in accordance with Department of Defense (DoD) directives, to remove, rename or modify assets and real property at the United States Military Academy (USMA) and West Point installation that commemorate or memorialize the Confederacy or those who voluntarily served with the Confederacy,” Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland <a href="https://www.westpoint.edu/naming-commission-report/superintendents-message">wrote</a> in a letter to the West Point community. 
Along with Lee’s portrait and bust, West Point is also replacing a quote from the southern general that is displayed at the campus’ Honor Plaza. Gilland wrote that a committee will determine a new quote that will replace Lee’s quote by the spring of 2023. 
At least three roads and three buildings on campus named after those who fought for the Confederacy will also be renamed by the spring of next year.
Lee’s portrait that was on display in the library will be moved to storage at the West Point Museum, while Lee’s bust is being moved to other storage, the general explained. A bronze triptych that <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/19nhxKfBungsgL1d157vjDUdAlk4V-8g8/view" target="_blank" rel="noopener">includes</a> Lee and other Confederate soldiers along with the words “Ku Klux Klan” will also be sent to storage “until a more suitable location is determined.”
“We will conduct these actions with dignity and respect,” Gilland wrote. 
A massive outcry against Confederate monuments hit the nation following the death of George Floyd in May of 2020, resulting in numerous statues being taken down. In September of 2021, the largest Confederate monument on display in the U.S., a statue of Lee, was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/largest-confederate-statue-in-u-s-comes-down-in-virginia">taken down</a> in Richmond, Virginia. 
Earlier this month, the city of Richmond <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/city-digs-up-remains-of-confederate-general-after-taking-down-statue">dug up</a> the remains of Confederate General A.P. Hill as it continues to purge Confederate symbols and monuments from public spaces.

Portrait of Robert E. Lee

West Point Begins Removing Confederate Monuments From Campus; Robert E. Lee Portrait And Bust Cleared Out

West Point Begins Removing Confederate Monuments From Campus, Including Robert E. Lee Portrait

West Point

Historians discovered a time capsule within a recently-removed statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, and as they reviewed the contents, presidential historian Michael Beschloss complained that it did not include &#8220;a handwritten apology.&#8221;
Virginia Democratic Governor <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/robert-e-lee-statue-removed-from-u-s-capitol-at-ralph-northams-request/">Ralph Northam</a> celebrated the find, noting that historians had been aware of its existence and had been looking for it. &#8220;They found it! This is likely the time capsule everyone was looking for. Conservators studying it—stay tuned for next steps! (Won’t be opened today),&#8221; he tweeted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
They found it! This is likely the time capsule everyone was looking for. Conservators studying it—stay tuned for next steps! (Won’t be opened today) <a href="https://t.co/3lWrsPGZd2">pic.twitter.com/3lWrsPGZd2</a>
— Governor Ralph Northam (@GovernorVA) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovernorVA/status/1475526531200004101?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 27, 2021</a></blockquote>
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One <a href="https://apnews.com/article/richmond-virginia-ralph-northam-58937ca7afe26166f71c19eb3664dbc9">time capsule</a> had already been recovered from the remains of the statue, which was removed earlier this year amid protests and complaints about the message being sent by keeping <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/largest-confederate-statue-in-u-s-comes-down-in-virginia/">confederate statues</a> on display.
The <a href="https://apnews.com/article/richmond-virginia-ralph-northam-58937ca7afe26166f71c19eb3664dbc9">Associated Press</a> reported:
<blockquote>
A rust-colored 1875 almanac, a cloth envelope and a silver coin were found Wednesday in a time capsule that lay hidden beneath a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Virginia for more than 130 years.
As intriguing as the water-damaged items were, they’re not what many were expecting to see after state conservators spent five hours gingerly prying the time capsule open. Even the mortar-encrusted lead box was a bit of a surprise.
Historical records led many to believe the capsule held dozens of objects related to the Confederacy as well as a picture of deceased President Abraham Lincoln.
</blockquote>
The second time capsule, many hoped, would ultimately yield that photo. But as Beschloss live-tweeted the capsule&#8217;s contents on Tuesday, his main complaint was that it contained no evidence of Robert E. Lee&#8217;s remorse.
&#8220;Time capsule from the removed Robert E. Lee statue in Richmond is being opened at this moment,&#8221; he began his series of tweets.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Time capsule from the removed Robert E. Lee statue in Richmond is being opened at this moment: <a href="https://t.co/Ey7tiMAfH9">pic.twitter.com/Ey7tiMAfH9</a>
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) <a href="https://twitter.com/BeschlossDC/status/1475892288429694985?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2021</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;So far, this is not exactly National Treasure,&#8221; he added, referencing the Disney film in which Benjamin Franklin Gates — played by Nicolas Cage — followed an invisible treasure map on the back of the Declaration of Independence and found the fabled treasure of the Knights Templar.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
So far, this is not exactly “National Treasure.”
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) <a href="https://twitter.com/BeschlossDC/status/1475895785942355976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2021</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Would be nice if the Robert E. Lee time capsule now being opened included a handwritten apology,&#8221; Beschloss <a href="https://twitter.com/BeschlossDC/status/1475896749264887818">continued</a>.
The contents, according to Beschloss&#8217; commentary, included &#8220;a coin mashed into cover of a Holy Bible&#8221; and a Richmond city guidebook that Beschloss noted &#8220;would have been useful to Union Army liberators of 1865.&#8221; There was no mention of the Lincoln photo that so many had hoped would be inside.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Found inside Robert E. Lee time capsule is a coin mashed into cover of a Holy Bible. For those who like metaphor, start your engines: <a href="https://t.co/qDoX9lBZe3">pic.twitter.com/qDoX9lBZe3</a>
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) <a href="https://twitter.com/BeschlossDC/status/1475901799215378434?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2021</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Lee’s time capsule includes a guide to city of Richmond. Would have been useful to Union Army liberators of 1865: <a href="https://t.co/aTMkc6XVBy">pic.twitter.com/aTMkc6XVBy</a>
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) <a href="https://twitter.com/BeschlossDC/status/1475902598200844293?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Note to pro-racist pro-Confederate insurrectionists who created the just-opened Robert E. Lee time capsule in the 1880s: If you’re trying to make a time capsule interesting to future historians, don&#8217;t stuff it with books, newspapers and currency that they will already have seen,&#8221; Beschloss <a href="https://twitter.com/BeschlossDC/status/1475908616611934208">concluded</a>, making it clear that he was not impressed with the contents of the time capsule.
He followed his time capsule thread with one last jab at &#8220;<a href="https://twitter.com/BeschlossDC/status/1475919606938230789">National Treasure</a>,&#8221; adding, &#8220;And I am happy to vouch for the fact that there is no map, secret or otherwise, on the back of the Declaration of Independence.&#8221;

Pedestal Of Former Robert E. Lee Memorial Removed In Richmond, Virginia

‘Would Be Nice’: Presidential Historian Complains Time Capsule Found In Robert E. Lee Statue Doesn’t Contain ‘A Handwritten Apology’

The statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee that formerly stood in the city of Charlottesville, Virginia, will be donated to an African American heritage organization, where it will be melted down and turned into another public art piece.
The City Council of Charlottesville voted unanimously, 4-0, to donate the bronze equestrian statue of Lee, which was removed by the city in July, to the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, whose initiative, &#8220;Swords Into Plowshares,&#8221; received the support of people and organizations including the Descendants of Enslaved Communities at the University of Virginia, as well as descendants of slaves who worked at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/charlottesville-robert-e-lee-statue-to-be-melted-down-for-public-art-project">Fox News</a> reported. The organization will also inform the public of the project&#8217;s development via a &#8220;community engagement process.&#8221; The organization raised some $590,000 to finance the project.
&#8220;Our hope with ‘Swords into Plowshares’ is to create something that transforms what was once toxic in our public space into something beautiful that can be more reflective of our entire community’s social values,&#8221; Jefferson School&#8217;s executive director Andrea Douglas said. &#8220;We’re giving people opportunities to engage with our own narratives and our own histories. This project offers a road map for other communities to do the same.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/08/us/charlottesville-lee-statue-melted-trnd/index.html">CNN reported</a> that the statue will be taken to a foundry to be melted down some time early next year. It will be turned into bronze ingots that will be used to create the new statue. &#8220;We&#8217;ll do that immediately. It&#8217;s the first thing we&#8217;re going to do,&#8221; Douglas said.
Douglas added that she hopes to have the project completed by 2024, the 100th anniversary of the unveiling of the Lee statue.
&#8220;I think the goal for us when we started this process was to take something that has been traumatic in our community, a symbol of racism, and turn it into something that can cause our community to heal,&#8221; Douglas told CNN.
&#8220;We are hoping that this process will be the complete antithesis to the process that put the [Lee] statue in our community to [begin] with,&#8221; she said.
The statue was at the center of the &#8220;Unite the Right&#8221; white nationalist rally in 2017. The Charlottesville City Council voted in June, also unanimously, to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/confederate-monuments-at-center-of-deadly-unite-the-right-rally-to-come-down">remove the statue</a> of Lee, as well as another statue of General Thomas &#8220;Stonewall&#8221; Jackson. The statues were taken down in July. The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/robert-e-lee-statue-at-center-of-unite-the-right-rally-removed-nearly-4-years-later">reported</a> at the time:
<blockquote>A crane hoisted a Confederate General Robert E. Lee statue off its pedestal in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday morning nearly four years after its planned removal sparked the “Unite The Right” rally that erupted into violence and left one woman dead. &#8230;
Shortly afterward, crews removed a statue of Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson nearby. &#8230;
City officials indicated they have reached out to museums, historical societies, and representatives from government and military battlefields that might be interested in acquiring the statues and have received 10 responses so far.
The removals come more than five years after Zyahna Bryant, then a freshman at Charlottesville High School, started a petition to rename Lee Park and remove the monument paying tribute to the general. In February 2017, the city council voted to take down the Lee statue.</blockquote>
Elsewhere in Virginia, the statue of Robert E. Lee in the capital city of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/largest-confederate-statue-in-u-s-comes-down-in-virginia">Richmond</a> was taken down in September. Outgoing Democratic Governor Ralph Northam ordered the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pedestal-where-robert-e-lee-statue-stood-to-be-taken-down-land-transferred-to-city-of-richmond">pedestal</a> on which the statue stood to be removed on Sunday. The land on which the statue stood was also given to the city of Richmond.

Statue

Robert E. Lee Statue In Charlottesville To Be Melted Down, Turned Into New Art Piece

The enormous stone pedestal that was once topped by the statue of Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia, will be taken down, and the land will be given back to the city of Richmond, weeks after the statue of the Confederate General was removed.
Outgoing Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) made the announcement Sunday, the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/richmond-virginia-ralph-northam-d80da75e11f123d5fb03b3d9c6c762f3">Associated Press</a> reported. The move marks a reverse course for Northam, who said in September when the statue was taken down that the pedestal would remain.
“This land is in the middle of Richmond, and Richmonders will determine the future of this space,” Northam wrote Sunday in a statement announcing the move. “The Commonwealth will remove the pedestal and we anticipate a safe removal and a successful conclusion to this project.”
Preliminary work will begin Monday. The project will be &#8220;substantially complete&#8221; by the end of the year. The pedestal parts will be put in storage until the state decides next steps, a news release announcing the decision noted.
The pedestal, which is more than 40 feet in height, is covered in graffiti, some of it profane and mostly denouncing police, which prompted some members of the community to call for it to remain as a piece of protest art, the AP reported.
The state will also transfer ownership of the grassy island where the statue was located to the city of Richmond. The land was originally granted to the Commonwealth of Virginia in the 19th century, but state ownership led to logistics issues when it came to maintenance and security problems on the property. The city requested that the land be transferred to the city, Northam spokeswoman Alena Yarmosky said.
Yarmosky also said it was important to Northam, who will be replaced by Republican Glenn Youngkin in January. “It was important to us that we do it now and before we leave office,” she said.
Northam ordered the statue to be taken down in 2020 amid nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd. “In 2020, we can no longer honor a system that was based on the buying and selling of enslaved people,” Northam said at the time. Litigation held up the actual removal of the statue, but the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/virginia-supreme-court-rules-state-can-take-down-confederate-statue">Virginia Supreme Court</a> ruled in September that the state could take down the statue. The statue itself was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/largest-confederate-statue-in-u-s-comes-down-in-virginia">removed</a> on September 8th.
“The Mayor appreciates the Governor’s willingness to transfer this land back to city control,” said Jim Nolan, a spokesman for Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, in a statement. “And because the Mayor believes Richmond deserves a clean slate when we take it, he supports the Governor’s decision to remove the pedestal.”
The city said it would accept the donation of the land “following the proper legal steps.”
The statue of Robert E. Lee was installed in 1890. It was one of five tributes to Confederates along Richmond&#8217;s Monument Avenue, the only one owned by the state of Virginia. The statues owned by the city were taken down in 2020 following the George Floyd protests.

Robert E. Lee statue base

Pedestal Where Robert E. Lee Statue Stood To Be Taken Down, Land Transferred To City Of Richmond

Statues

A time capsule below a now-removed Confederate statue will be replaced with a new capsule filled with contemporary items. The capsule-removal plan, announced by Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D-VA), involves searching around the 40-foot granite base that previously held up a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/largest-confederate-statue-in-u-s-comes-down-in-virginia">statue of Robert E Lee</a>, the Confederate general. The statue was put up in the decades after the Civil War.
“This monument and its time capsule reflected Virginia in 1890—and it’s time to remove both, so that our public spaces better reflect who we are as a people in 2021,” said Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D-VA) in a statement. “The past 18 months have seen historic change, from the pandemic to protests for racial justice that led to the removal of these monuments to a lost cause. It is fitting that we replace the old time capsule with a new one that tells that story.”
The new time capsule will be filled with dozens of new items, including a Black Lives Matter sticker and a CDC vaccination record card donated by the Virginia Department of Health, <a href="https://wset.com/news/local/the-virginia-of-today-new-time-capsule-replaces-confederate-items-in-richmond-monument">according</a> to ABC-13 News. At the request of the governor’s office, the new capsule will also include a photo of Virginia State Police in Washington, D.C., during the January 6, 2021 riot. The state’s police were deployed at the time to help patrol the capital, and the photo is from 14th and F street NW. 
Other items that will be included: An expired COVID-19 vaccine vial, an LGBT pride pin, prayer beads from a woman who died of COVID-19, a collection of poems from middle school students about the pandemic, an election officer&#8217;s badge from 2020, and a video from an interfaith healing and unity event.
The contents of the old capsule were still being dug up Thursday in a search effort that involves ground-penetrating radar. The new capsule will contain a list of the original contents “as described in a Richmond Dispatch article dated October 26, 1887, submitted by the Library of Virginia,” reports ABC-13.
As for the statue of Lee, the government has placed it in storage until a decision can be made as to what to do with it. It’s unclear what will happen to the granite pedestal. 
Northam called for the statue’s removal last year, amidst the unrest following the death of George Floyd, and said that we could “no longer honor a system that was based on the buying and selling of enslaved people,” <a href="https://www.axios.com/robert-e-lee-statue-richmond-0ea8dbdf-8e5d-4b62-998b-44ed55a087d6.html">according</a> to Axios. 
“Yes, that statue has been there for a long time. But it was wrong then, and it is wrong now. So we’re taking it down,” said the Democratic governor. “I believe in a Virginia that studies its past in an honest way. I believe that when we learn more, we can do more. And I believe that when we learn more — when we take that honest look at our past — we must do more than just talk about the future.”
The governor’s move prompted a legal challenge that remained unresolved for more than a year. But the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled last week that the commonwealth could remove the statue and that the government was not obligated to keep it up — even if the deed for the monument called for it to be kept up for display in perpetuity.

Richmond, Virginia Removes Statue Of Confederate General Robert E. Lee

Virginia Emptying 130-Year-Old Time Capsule; New One Will Have Vaccine Card, BLM Sticker, January 6 Photo

Black Lives Matter

Capitol Riot

The largest Confederate monument display in the United States was removed from public view on Wednesday, over a year after Governor Ralph Northam (D-VA) called for its removal following the death of George Floyd. 
The statue, a commemoration to Confederate General Robert E. Lee, was <a href="https://www.nbc12.com/2020/06/04/history-behind-robert-e-lee-monument-richmond/">unveiled</a> in the 1890s in a field outside Richmond, Virginia. The 21-foot statue features Lee on horseback and sat atop a 40-foot granite base. The whole monument was six stories tall. 
Governor Ralph Northan (D-VA) called for its removal last year, saying that we could &#8220;no longer honor a system that was based on the buying and selling of enslaved people,&#8221; <a href="https://www.axios.com/robert-e-lee-statue-richmond-0ea8dbdf-8e5d-4b62-998b-44ed55a087d6.html">according</a> to Axios. 
“Yes, that statue has been there for a long time,&#8221; he added. &#8220;But it was wrong then, and it is wrong now. So we’re taking it down. I believe in a Virginia that studies its past in an honest way. I believe that when we learn more, we can do more. And I believe that when we learn more — when we take that honest look at our past — we must do more than just talk about the future.&#8221;
The governor&#8217;s move prompted a legal challenge that remained unresolved for more than a year. However, last week, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled that the commonwealth could, in fact, remove the statue and that the government was not obligated to keep it up, even if the deed for the monument called for it to be kept up for display in perpetuity. 
“Those restrictive covenants are unenforceable as contrary to public policy and for being unreasonable because their effect is to compel &#8230; the Commonwealth to express, in perpetuity, a message with which it now disagrees,” the justices wrote in a unanimous ruling, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/courts-george-floyd-virginia-fa71756f4028936350a72d2e1a8cd4a1">notes</a> The Associated Press.
Both Northam and his wife were on the ground when the statue was removed Wednesday morning.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
156 years after the end of the civil war, Virginia has come one step closer to being a more inclusive and welcoming Commonwealth. <a href="https://t.co/7wvRfM35mx">pic.twitter.com/7wvRfM35mx</a>
— Pamela Northam (@FirstLadyVA) <a href="https://twitter.com/FirstLadyVA/status/1435580710119780352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
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“After 133 years, the statue of Robert E. Lee has finally come down—the last Confederate statue on Monument Avenue, and the largest in the South,&#8221; said the governor. &#8220;The public monuments reflect the story we choose to tell about who we are as a people. It is time to display history as history, and use the public memorials to honor the full and inclusive truth of who we are today and in the future.”
According to the governor&#8217;s office, the statue will now be placed in &#8220;secure storage&#8221; until the government can figure out what to do with it. The pedestal will remain in place for now, and soon, a &#8220;community-driven effort to reimagine Monument Avenue, including the state-owned property surrounding the monument and the pedestal&#8221; will take place.

Largest Confederate Statue In U.S. Comes Down In Virginia

A crane hoisted a Confederate General Robert E. Lee statue off its pedestal in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday morning nearly four years after its planned removal sparked the “Unite The Right” rally that erupted into violence and left one woman dead.
The Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-charlottesville-b2d4e50d0b1cc6f84a4c3aa8c2436ec0">reported</a>, “Because of litigation and changes to a state law dealing with war memorials, the city had been unable to act until now.” <a href="https://apnews.com/article/charlottesville-robert-e-lee-statue-removed-2efbc5e13b74e2545a0f6642e2384308?utm_source=Twitter&amp;utm_campaign=SocialFlow&amp;utm_medium=AP">According</a> to the AP, “dozens” of spectators lined the blocks surrounding the park, “and a cheer went up as the statue lifted off the pedestal.” There was “a visible police presence,” the report added.
“Taking down this statue is one small step closer to the goal of helping Charlottesville, Virginia, and America, grapple with the sin of being willing to destroy black people for economic gain,” said Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker, an Independent, in a speech before the removal.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
156 years after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House in Virginia, the Robert E. Lee statue has finally been removed in Charlottesville.<a href="https://t.co/FH9JQv7XvO">pic.twitter.com/FH9JQv7XvO</a>
&mdash; Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) <a href="https://twitter.com/keithboykin/status/1413837952992653318?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 10, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Shortly afterward, crews removed a statue of Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson nearby.
On Friday, city officials <a href="https://www.charlottesville.gov/civicalerts.aspx?AID=729">announced</a> the two bronze statues would come down on Saturday, but their stone bases would temporarily remain in place and removed at a later date. City Council had voted unanimously in June to remove both statues from public parks.
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The Stonewall Jackson statue has been removed from Court Square Park. <a href="https://t.co/5lK399Bx52">pic.twitter.com/5lK399Bx52</a>
&mdash; Charlottesville City (@CvilleCityHall) <a href="https://twitter.com/CvilleCityHall/status/1413863352493879299?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 10, 2021</a></blockquote>
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“City Council has the sole authority to determine the ultimate, final disposition of the statues,” the announcement said. “The City Manager is not authorized to destroy the statues or to sell them without further action by City Council. Both statues will be stored in a secure location on City property until City Council makes a final decision on disposition.”
City officials indicated they have reached out to museums, historical societies, and representatives from government and military battlefields that might be interested in acquiring the statues and have received 10 responses so far.
The removals come more than five years after Zyahna Bryant, then a freshman at Charlottesville High School, started a petition to rename Lee Park and remove the monument paying tribute to the general. In February 2017, the city council voted to take down the Lee statue.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
⁦<a href="https://twitter.com/ZyahnaB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ZyahnaB</a>⁩ started a petition to remove Confederate statues in 2016. Today she got to see that happen <a href="https://t.co/83IhX23Sfq">pic.twitter.com/83IhX23Sfq</a>
&mdash; Lisa Provence (@lisa_provence) <a href="https://twitter.com/lisa_provence/status/1413833482258853889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 10, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
A lawsuit was filed that force the city to put those plans on hold, however. The controversy escalated later that year when demonstrators on both sides of the issue converged on the town.
As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/confederate-monuments-at-center-of-deadly-unite-the-right-rally-to-come-down">previously reported</a>:
<blockquote>In August 2017, far-right groups including white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and members of the Ku Klux Klan gathered for the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville. The event turned violent and then deadly when one protester rammed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one woman, Heather Heyer.
The rally was held to protest the removal of the city’s Confederate statues, which was proposed in the wake of another incident of racial violence, the 2015 church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, where a white supremacist shot and killed nine black members of a congregation.</blockquote>
The Charlottesville rally became an ongoing controversy during former President Donald Trump’s term in office after he held a press conference in which he said there were “very fine people on both sides” as well as “blame on both sides.”
“I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned, totally,” Trump added.
Trump later attempted to clarify his remarks, saying that he was “talking about people who went because they felt very strongly about the monument to Robert E. Lee, a great general.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/confederate-monuments-at-center-of-deadly-unite-the-right-rally-to-come-down">Confederate Monuments At Center Of Deadly ‘Unite The Right’ Rally To Come Down</a>

Gen. Robert E. Lee statue

Robert E. Lee Statue At Center Of ‘Unite The Right’ Rally Removed Nearly 4 Years Later

monuments

Arlington House, the mansion in Virginia that once belonged to Confederate General Robert E. Lee, is reopening after a $12 million revamping effort aimed at contextualizing Lee’s legacy.
After the rehabilitation, the mansion that overlooks Arlington National Cemetery will include more information about people who were enslaved on the property, as <a href="https://apnews.com/article/travel-health-coronavirus-pandemic-lifestyle-fd735726b77d8ca99473ac3f856126ff">reported</a> by The Associated Press. 
For the first time since 2018, the National Park Service opened Arlington House to the general population on Tuesday. The coronavirus pandemic and setbacks resulted in a longer closure than originally planned as the mansion and grounds were anticipated to open in 2019.
“The rehabilitation was funded by philanthropist David Rubenstein, who has also donated millions for the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and other historical sites around the D.C. region,” per the AP. 
Arlington House has a vast trove of records related to its history but is still impacted by the fact that there is often not much recorded documentation about people who were enslaved, noted Charles Cuvelier, superintendent of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, the National Park Service unit that manages Arlington House.
“Our efforts are to illuminate those layers of history to the best of our ability,” he said.
The Arlington House website <a href="https://www.nps.gov/arho/learn/management/telling-the-story-of-the-enslaved-people-at-arlington-house.htm">explained</a>: &#8220;Today, the National Park Service tells the whole story of slavery at Arlington House, recognizing that speaking openly about this history might engender discomfort in ourselves, our colleagues, and our visitors, because it helps us to understand the complete story of our collective history and acknowledge those who have been too long ignored by the dominate narrative. The National Park Service acknowledges and recognizes the lives of those enslaved at Arlington House with respect, humanity, empathy, and agency.&#8221;
&#8220;Visitors to Arlington House can learn about enslaved people who worked at the estate, such as the Syphax, Burke, Parks, and Gray families, including learning stories about their daily life on the plantation and their families’ legacies,&#8221; it said.
The &#8220;newly restored outbuildings&#8221; that operated as working and living quarters for slaves are also open to the public.
“Descendants of Charles and Maria Syphax can trace their lineage back to Parke Custis, who fathered children with Maria’s mother, Arianna Carter, also a slave,” per the AP. 
The outlet reported: 
<blockquote>
The Norris family included Wesley Norris, who according to some accounts escaped from Arlington House in 1859 when Lee was managing the estate. When Norris was captured, Lee insisted that Norris be whipped 50 times and that the wounds be washed with brine, according to newspaper accounts, including one given by Norris directly to an anti-slavery newspaper.
</blockquote>
Steve Hammond, a descendant of the Syphax family who is now a trustee of the Arlington House Foundation, said he thinks the new items do a better job of sharing the entire history of the location. 
“It’s going to be much more focused on everyone who has lived on that historic piece of property,” he said. 
Hammond has also pushed to take out Lee’s name from the site, which bears the formal name of “Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial.” Representative Don Beyer (D-VA) <a href="https://apnews.com/article/va-state-wire-religion-dc-wire-us-news-cdd50a2811ba86cb65251ee772f949b7">proposed legislation</a> to change the name last year and is <a href="https://apnews.com/article/travel-health-coronavirus-pandemic-lifestyle-fd735726b77d8ca99473ac3f856126ff">reportedly</a> planning to do so again. 
Hammond said that he anticipates the updates — and the possible change in name — will be difficult for some people who preferred when Lee was the main focus of the house, but he is hopeful that the site can now encourage more extensive conversations about all of the house’s previous residents. 
“We’re trying to create space for these difficult conversations,” he said.
The reopening comes as conversations surrounding the existence of confederate statues and the re-naming of schools become more prominent. 
A school district in Jacksonville, Florida, recently announced that it will be changing the names of six schools that have ties to figures from the confederacy, as <a href="https://thegrio.com/2021/06/07/jacksonville-change-school-names-confederate/">reported</a> by The Grio.
“At this point in time it’s important to start thinking about who we want to be,” said Duval County public schools board chair Elizabeth Andersen. “As a board, we were listening to our community members and wanting to move forward so that every student that walks in our building understands that they are respected, that they are capable of achieving their highest potential, and that all of their lives matter.” 
The six schools set to be renamed in Jacksonville are Kirby-Smith Middle School, Joseph Finegan Elementary Schoo, Stonewall Jackson Elementary Schoo, Jefferson Davis Middle School, J.E.B. Stuart Middle School, and Robert E. Lee High School.

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Robert E. Lee Memorial Arlington House Updated To Include More Information On Slaves Who Lived There

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