Updated 6:25 p.m.
Six years ago, the City of Richmond removed a statue of Confederate Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson on Monument Avenue. Crowds gathered, the sky opened and cheers erupted in the rain. Over the next two years, dozens of statues came down.
But three statues still remained in Richmonders’ frequent public view, since they were on state property, as they were the responsibility of the General Assembly.
On Friday afternoon, workers contracted by the Commonwealth of Virginia removed the last Confederate monument on Capitol Square — also ofStonewall Jackson.
“It’s kind of like deja vu all over again, right?” asked state Sen. Mike Jones (D–Chesterfield), who was on Richmond City Council when authoritiesremoved the monuments from public view,including one that doubled as a grave marker.
Until that point, state law prevented localities from removing “war memorials,” until Gov. Ralph Northam signeda bill introduced by Del. Dolores McQuinn (D–Richmond) in 2020.
While the legislature did vote to remove a statue of segregationist Harry Byrd, it hadn’t yet removed Confederate monuments on statehouse grounds.
Then, thespending plan passed by the General Assembly in June directedthe state to remove all Confederate monuments and memorials from Capitol Square, which came after disagreements between the the House of Delegates and Virginia Senate on whether to pay for their removal. The fiscal 2027–28 budget, which went into effect July 1, allocated $1.8 million for the work.
In addition to Jackson’s statue, which was unveiled in 1875, contractors removed two others: Gov. William “Extra Billy” Smith, who served before and during the Civil War, and Dr. Hunter Holmes McGuire, Jackson’s surgeon.
Those were unveiled in 1906 and 1904, respectively, during a period when manyLost Cause monumentswere erected in Richmond and across the South.
There were no crowds at Virginia Capitol Square on Friday, unlike the removal of Monument Avenue’s statues in 2020 and 2021: The public was barred from entry by police as a security precaution.
A handful of reporters poked their camera lenses in between the bars of Capitol Square’s tall metal fences. Healthcare workers on lunchtime strolls craned their necks to watch. One bystander shook his head at the monuments being removed.
The vast majority of local Confederate statues were put into storage initially at Richmond’s Wastewater Treatment Plant, whileothers have gone on tour across the country.
The state has no more publicly displayed monuments to the Confederate State of America, according to Curator Christina Vida at The Valentine Museum.
And while Richmond’s city-owned monuments on public roads are also gone, the 1870 Memorial to the Confederate Dead in Oakwood Cemetery — a Civil War–era resting place — is still on display on city property.
Jones said it was important for Black Virginians to watch the statues come down.
“It impacted our lives directly and indirectly over time,” he said. “It’s an important message to send to all Virginians, not just Black Virginians, but to all Virginians.”
Public artstill on display on Capitol Square, include a memorial to the civil rights movements, an earthwork monument for Virginia’s Indian Tribes, and another work devoted to Virginia’s women and women political activists.
According to a statement from the Department of General Services, the commonwealth has gifted monuments to theShenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation.
On Friday afternoon, the foundation issued a statement that it “will assume stewardship of the monuments as part of its ongoing mission to preserve and interpret Virginia’s historic landscapes and cultural resources. The organization emphasized that it approaches this responsibility with great care and looks forward to continued collaboration with state and local partners to ensure the long-term preservation of these significant outdoor works of art.”
Editor’s note: The Valentine is a VPM sponsor.
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