The Robert E. Lee Monument in Richmond, Virginia, was the first installation on Monument Avenue in 1890, and would ultimately be the last Confederate monument on the Avenue to be removed. Before its removal on September 8, 2021, the monument honored American Civil War General Robert E. Lee, depicted on a horse atop a large marble base that stood over 60-feet tall, and remained the largest monument on the site for over a century. Constructed in France and shipped to Virginia, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2007 and the Virginia Landmarks Register since 2006.
After the murder of George Floyd, the controversial
monument was covered in graffiti, and many activists called for its removal. Ralph Northam, the Governor of Virginia,
ordered the statue removed on June 4, 2020, but was blocked by a state court
pending the outcome of a lawsuit. The state court ultimately ruled in Northam's
favor in October 2020, but the decision was again put on hold pending appeal.
The Supreme Court of Virginia heard oral arguments on June 8, 2021, and the
Justices asked no questions during the oral argument. On September 2, 2021, the Virginia Supreme
Court ruled that restrictive covenants from 1887 and 1890, that transferred the
statue to the state, were no longer enforceable, and the statue could be
removed by the state. The bronze
sculpture was removed from its plinth on September 8, 2021.
Description and Location
The bronze statue, sculpted by Antonin
Mercié, depicts Confederate general Robert E. Lee atop a horse. The horse is
not a representation of Robert E. Lee's horse Traveller, whose modest scale
Mercié believed would not suit the overall composition. Traveller was replaced
by a stronger looking thoroughbred. Lee
stands 14 feet (4.3 m) high atop his horse and the entire statue is 60
feet (18 m) tall including a stone base designed by Paul Pujol. A time capsule was embedded in the base
pedestal when the monument was first erected.
The state-controlled land around the
statue serves as a traffic circle at the intersection of Monument Avenue and
Allen Avenue (named after Otway Allen, the developer who donated the land to
the association). The Lee Monument is a focal point for Richmond. (Most popular
online maps depict the "Lee Circle" as the center of Richmond).
Background History
Throughout the war, many American
Southerners viewed Lee as a war hero and a master strategist. Following the death of Robert E. Lee in 1870,
several organizations were formed with the goal of erecting a monument to Lee
in Richmond. These included survivors of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, the
Lee Monument Association led by Confederate general Jubal Early, and the
Ladies' Lee Monument Association. These organizations were merged into the Lee
Monument Commission in 1886, led by Lee's nephew and Virginia governor Fitzhugh
Lee and together the funds combined to $52,000.
The Sculpter: Antonin Mercie
Antonin Mercié, born on October 30, 1845
in Toulouse, was an artist and sculptor known for his works in France before his Robert E. Lee
Memorial earned him a reputation in the United States. He was a student under François
Jouffroy and Alexandre Falguière, and he became a member of the Institut des
Beaux-Arts as well as president of the Société des Artistes Français and Grand
Officier de la Légion d'Honneur. His style is known for being "soberly
realistic." Mercié won the
Grand Prix de Rome in 1868 and awards such as an honorary medal at the
"Salon des Moins de 30 Ans".
Although famous for his works in Paris,
Mercié devoted particular attention to the construction of the Robert E. Lee
Monument. Mercié constructed the monument in France and had it shipped to
America. He constructed the monument in
sections, which were sent to America in four separate shipping crates. Mercié
wished to watch the unveiling of the monument, but due to stress from a
previous ocean voyage, he stayed in France.
After the unveiling of the monument, Mercié earned other commissions
from the United States, including a monument representing Francis Scott Key and
the creation of the American National Anthem in Baltimore, Maryland. Mercié
dreamed of seeing the unveiling of the Key monument, but was reportedly unable
to attend due to a domestic situation with his wife.
Construction and Dedication
When the construction of the monument
was complete, the Lee Monument Association of Virginia sent a representative to
France to inspect the work and issue the final payment of $20,000. The
journalist Lida McCabe reported on the transaction between the American
businessman and the French sculptor, observing that the transaction was forced
and uneasy. The Monument Association representative seemed to have little
interest in the monument itself and simply occupied himself with his financial
duties. McCabe's reporting focused on the dedication that Mercié put into the
sculpture. After listening to Mercié, McCabe discovered that he had researched
the Civil War and General Lee extensively. McCabe reported that had acquired
different props such as saddles and stirrups, coats, and boots to make sure
that the monument was as accurate as possible.
The cornerstone for the monument was
placed on October 27, 1887. The statue arrived in Richmond by rail on May 4,
1890. Newspaper accounts indicate that
10,000 people helped pull four wagons with the pieces of the monument. The
completed statue was unveiled on May 29, 1890.
Two of Lee's daughters, Mary Custis Lee and Mildred Childe Lee, attended
the dedication.
The site for the statue originally was
offered in 1886. Richmond City annexed the land in 1892, but economic
difficulties meant that the Lee Monument stood alone for several years in the
middle of a tobacco field before development resumed in the early 1900s.
In 1992, the iron fence around the
monument was removed, in part because drivers unfamiliar with traffic circles
would run into the fence from time to time and force costly repairs. After the
fences came down, the stone base became a popular sunbathing spot. In December 2006, the state completed an
extensive cleaning and repair of the monument.
It has been listed on the National
Register of Historic Places since 2007, the Virginia Landmarks Register since
2006, and is located in the Monument Avenue Historic District.
Time Capsule
During the dedication ceremony, the
plans to place a time capsule under one of the cornerstones of the Lee
Monument. The original time capsule is said to have roughly 60 items from 30
families and businesses.
On June 22, 2021. Governor Ralph Northam
announced plans to replace the 1887 Time Capsule located at the Lee Monument
Site. Individuals could submit items, that they either owned or could obtain,
to be placed in the new time capsule until July 20, 2021.
On September 7, 2021, Governor Northam
announced the new artifacts to be placed in a new time capsule.
Recent Protests
Controversy, vandalism, and calls for
removal
Historians have offered a range of
opinions on the monument, often pointing out its problematic perpetuation of
the Lost Cause mythology.
In August 2017, after the violence that
occurred at the Unite the Right rally, protestors called for the removal of the
Lee statue in Charlottesville and Richmond.
On June 4, 2020, Virginia governor Ralph Northam announced that the
Richmond statue would be removed in response to the protests that followed the murder
of George Floyd. On June 8, a judge in
Richmond Circuit Court issued a temporary injunction against the monument's
removal, citing a lawsuit filed by William C. Gregory, who claims the
Commonwealth promised to "faithfully guard" and "affectionately
protect" the statue in the deed that originally annexed the property to
the state. Subsequent legal proceedings led
to a hearing on July 23, which concluded without a ruling on the monument's
future. A new 90-day injunction against the monument's removal began
August 3. After nearby residents filed a
lawsuit to keep the statue in its place, Virginia's Attorney General filed a
motion to dismiss the suit; circuit court Judge W. Reilly Marchant ruled August
25, 2020 that the matter would proceed to trial. The October 19 trial resulted in a halted
decision pending appeal.
On September 2, 2021, the Supreme Court
of Virginia ruled unanimously in the two separate cases affirming the power of
Governor Ralph Northam to order the statue removed from state-owned property.
Kudzu
Kudzu is an invasive vine introduced to
the South in 1883 and became very difficult to control and tame. Artists have
incorporated the vine into their responses to Confederate monuments, including
Richmond's Lee Monument. A knitting
collective known as the Kudzu Project has created knitted vines and tossed them
on monuments. In 2019, the artist Aaron
McIntosh created a full-scale installation of the Lee Monument overtaken by
kudzu. Also in 2019, the Chicago-based
artist Jenny Kendler, who grew up in Richmond, displayed a proposal to
'bioremediate' Confederate monuments with kudzu at the DePaul Art Museum.
Protest actions
Following Black Lives Matter protests in
June 2020, the traffic circle where the statue stands was unofficially updated
with a sign that reads "Welcome to Beautiful Marcus-David Peters Circle,
Liberated by the People MMXX" : memorializing Marcus-David Peters, a
Black man from Richmond who was shot and killed by the police in 2018. The area
contained signs that told the story of Peters and milestones he missed since
his death. The location is often used as protest site to remember all who have
died from police brutality.
In the wake of protests, the graffiti-covered
monument increasingly became a venue to portray images of racial justice and
empowerment: from ballerinas dancing at the base of the plinth to video
projections of George Floyd, Malcolm X, Angela Davis (and others) onto the statue
itself. In October 2020 the
graffiti-covered monument was deemed among the most influential American
protest artworks since World War II by the New York Times.
Removal
Following the ruling of the State
Supreme Court, the Commonwealth of Virginia approved the removal and the statue
was taken down on September 8, 2021.
Ralph Northam statement on the Removal
of the Lee Monument immediately following the removal:
"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. 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.”
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