Arlington National Cemetery Set to Part Ways with Confederate Monument This Week
In an announcement made over the weekend, Arlington National Cemetery spokesperson Kerry Meeker informed CNN that they anticipate the complete removal of the Confederate monument by December 12th.
This move is yet another attempt to adhere to the Department of Defense's directive, issued in October, mandating the removal of Confederate symbols from military establishments.
By Saturday, the Army Corps, responsible for overseeing the cemetery, declared that the preparatory phase for the monument's removal, including an environmental impact assessment, had been concluded. The evaluation concluded that the removal would not pose significant environmental concerns.
Officials stated that they would transport the bronze components to a new location. They further specified that a security fence would encircle the monument, protecting the surrounding lands, graves, and headstones during the removal process.
The monument's granite pedestal and foundation would remain in place to avoid disturbing nearby graves, according to cemetery officials.
As per Arlington Cemetery's website, Confederate remains were first interred in 1900, 35 years following the end of the Civil War. By 1902, 262 Confederate bodies were buried in Section 16, and the current total number of interred Confederate individuals surpasses 400.
The Moses Jacob Ezekiel-designed statue, unveiled in 1914, depicts a bronze figure standing on a 32-foot pedestal, sporting an olive crown and holding a laurel wreath, a plowshare, and a pitchfork. The faithful can find the biblical inscription "they beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks" written at the statue's base.
The monument features additional figurines, including a "Mammy" figure carrying a white officer's baby and a black man following his master into war.
The controversy surrounding the monument's removal is far from universal.
Governor Youngkin's spokesperson Macaulay Porter, a Republican, expressed his dissatisfaction and mentioned Youngkin's intentions to transfer the statue to a new exhibit within the New Market Battlefield State Historical Park, labeled as "an ideal backdrop" for Hesekiel's legacy.
In September, the Congressional Naming Committee recommended the eradication of Confederate statues from the cemetery.
The series of changes within Arlington National Cemetery commenced last year, after West Point dismantled several Robert E. Lee memorabilia, including a portrait and a stone bust of the Confederate general.
Insights:
The Confederate monument's removal in Arlington National Cemetery is a contentious issue. Some, like Macaulay Porter, a spokesperson for Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, have expressed their disapproval and advocate for relocating the statute to the New Market Battlefield State Historical Park.
Despite dissent, officials persist in their plans to implement the Department of Defense's directive, aiming to address the controversy surrounding Confederate symbols and their perceived divisiveness in specific contexts, like national cemeteries.
The exact relocation site for the Arlington Confederate monument remains undisclosed. Some cities and cemeteries have opted for transferring the Confederate statues to less noticeable locations or burial grounds to alleviate debate.
[1] Source: [2] Source: [3] Source:
