Then-Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signed the bill into law just before racial justice protests were triggered nationwide by the murder of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis. Since 2020, localities throughout the South have eliminated Confederate statues as symbols of enslavement and oppression, with many dramatic examples in Virginia.
While not an exhaustive list, here are some of the Confederate monuments that have been taken down in Virginia — and Maryland — and some that remain standing.
A.P. Hill monument, Richmond
Description: The statue of Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill is the last of Richmond’s major Confederate statues to be taken down. The statue, at the intersection of Laburnum Avenue and Hermitage Road, has the distinction of being the city’s only monument under which its honoree is buried, complicating efforts to remove it.
Status: Removed on Dec. 12.
Future location: The statue will become the property of Richmond’s Black History Museum, which is overseeing the disposition of several other Confederate monuments. The body of Hill will go to Fairview Cemetery in Culpeper, Hill’s hometown, where the city of Richmond has paid $1,000 for a burial plot.
Robert E. Lee monument, Richmond
Description: Virginia’s biggest statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee stood as the centerpiece of the parade of Confederate statues along Richmond’s Monument Avenue. The towering statue had been the focus of protests night after night during the summer of 2020 following Floyd’s murder. The statue’s 50-foot-tall plinth was festooned with colorful graffiti calling for racial justice and including numerous expletives aimed at police. The 14-foot statue, which was owned by the state, was first unveiled in 1890 as an icon of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. Northam announced his intention to bring down the statue in June 2020, but court challenges delayed the state from acting for more than a year. The stone base contained two time capsules — one made of lead was placed by the men who designed parts of the monument and included books and a British coin, the other a copper box with dozens of items, including Confederate memorabilia.
Status: Removed Sept. 8, 2021.
Current location: In storage at the city’s ultra-secure wastewater treatment plant.
Jefferson Davis monument, Richmond
Description: The statue of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, had stood on Richmond’s iconic Monument Avenue since 1907. During racial justice protests in the spring and summer of 2020, protesters pulled the statue down from its base.
Status: Toppled by protesters June 10, 2020.
Current location: The paint-splattered figure is on display at the Valentine museum in Richmond.
J.E.B. Stuart monument, Richmond
Description: The statue of the Confederate general J.E.B. Stuart stood on Monument Avenue in Richmond since 1907, but it was taken down amid racial justice protests in the summer of 2020. The Stuart statue was one of the city-owned statues ordered removed by Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney.
Status: Removed July 7, 2020.
Current location: In secure storage at the wastewater treatment plant.
Stonewall Jackson monument, Richmond
Description: The equestrian statue of Confederate Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson that stood on Richmond’s iconic Monument Avenue was removed after Stoney used emergency powers to order a series of statues cleared from city property.
Status: Removed July 1, 2020.
Current location: In secure storage at the wastewater treatment plant.
Matthew Fontaine Maury monument, Richmond
Description: The statue of Matthew Fontaine Maury, a Confederate navy leader, was one of the more obscure memorials to the Lost Cause. Maury acquired ships for the Confederacy, and after the war ended, he attempted to establish a Confederate colony in Mexico. He later returned to Virginia and taught meteorology at Virginia Military Institute. The statue was erected in 1929 and featured Maury in front of a globe surrounded by waves, people, cattle and other animals.
Status: Removed July 2, 2020.
Current location: In secure storage at the wastewater treatment plant.
Robert E. Lee monument, Charlottesville
Description: The bronze statue of Lee was the focal point of the deadly Unite the Right rally in 2017 and the subject of a lengthy legal battle over whether it could be taken down. Since then, the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center won a bid to take over the statue and has said it intends to melt down the piece and turn it into new artwork. Those plans were the subject of a lawsuit by the Trevilian Station Battlefield Foundation and the Ratcliffe Foundation, which want to force the city to pay to repair and restore the statue, or, if the statue cannot be repaired, use the bronze ingots from the statue to be repurposed into a Civil War cannon that will be displayed on a Civil War battlefield. That case is ongoing.
Status: Removed July 10, 2021.
Current location: The statue is being held in an undisclosed location. According to court documents, it has been disassembled.
‘Talbot Boys’ statue, Easton, Md.
Description: The “Talbot Boys” statue, which stood in front of the Talbot County Courthouse in Easton, Md., was dedicated in 1916 to honor the Eastern Shore county’s Confederate veterans. The 13-foot copper statue featured a young anonymous soldier carrying a Confederate battle flag. While the statue has had detractors for years, the movement to take it down gained momentum with the racial justice protests in the summer of 2020. The Talbot County Council voted that year to keep the statue in place, but reversed course in September 2021.
Status: Removed March 14.
Current location: The statue has been relocated to Cross Keys Battlefield in Harrisonburg, Va.
Confederate statue, Mathews County, Va.
Description: The Confederate statue sitting in front of the historic Mathews County Courthouse is of a generic Civil War soldier atop a column, the base reading “Our Confederate soldiers” on one side and “In memory of the soldiers and sailors of Mathews County Va.” on another. The statue has not been the subject of protests or vandalism, but the prospect of either occurring has led the county board of supervisors to consider deeding the land under the statue to a private group to ensure the statue would remain standing in front of the courthouse in perpetuity. The board already has drafted a deed and voted to waive county subdivision rules to allow it to carve out a 21-by-22-foot plot of land under the statue. But after a raucous public meeting in early December, at which many in the crowd were against the proposal, the board took no action, saying it wanted to give the idea more thought.
Status: Standing.
‘Appomattox,’ Alexandria, Va.
Description: “Appomattox,” which stood in an Alexandria, Va., intersection for 131 years, depicted a southern-facing Civil War soldier. The United Daughters of the Confederacy, which owned the statue, opted to remove it for fear of it being damaged during protests. The city had tried to remove the statue for years but was prohibited by state law.
Status: Removed June 2, 2020.
Current location: Unknown.
State Capitol statues, Richmond
Description: While many Confederate statues have been taken down in Richmond, a trio of Confederate statues still stand on Capitol Square outside the state Capitol: a bronze statue of Jackson; a statue of Hunter Holmes McGuire, the Confederate doctor who amputated Jackson’s arm and defended slavery; and Gov. William “Extra Billy” Smith, who was also a Confederate general. Jurisdiction over the statues is unclear; it is believed that it would take the action of both the governor and the state legislature to remove the trio.
Status: Standing.
Virginia Capitol Lee statue and Confederate busts
Description: The Virginia Capitol’s Old House Chamber featured seven busts of Confederate leaders, including of Maury, Jackson, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, Jefferson Davis and Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens. The biggest of the Confederate relics was a 900-pound bronze statue of Lee, which stood on the spot where Lee accepted command of Virginia’s armed forces in 1861. That sculpture was erected in 1931. They were ordered removed by then-House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax), who said her role as speaker gave her authority over decorations and furnishings in the House-controlled parts of the Capitol.
Status: Removed July 23-24, 2020.
Current location: A bipartisan advisory board was created to recommend what to do with the items, which were taken to an undisclosed location for storage.