In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson unveiled the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. Created by Confederate veteran Moses Jacob Ezekiel, the 32-foot-tall monument features a large bronze statue of a woman holding a laurel wreath, a plow stock and a pruning hook, representing “the South,” atop a granite base.
On that base is the Biblical verse,” And they shall beat their swords into plough-shares and their spears into pruning hooks.” It also features images from both mythology and those of Southern soldiers and civilians. These include a Black slave woman holding a white soldier’s baby, along with a life-size image of an enslaved man following his owner off to war, among others.
“The elaborately designed monument offers a nostalgic, mythologized vision of the Confederacy, including highly sanitized depictions of slavery,” according to the Arlington National Cemetery website.
In 2021, Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which included a provision for the creation of the Naming Commission, which directs the defense secretary to “remove all names, symbols, displays, monuments and paraphernalia that honor or commemorate the Confederate States of America … or any person who served voluntarily with the Confederate States of America from all assets of the Department of Defense.”
As part of that provision, Arlington National Cemetery is preparing to remove the Confederate Memorial, which sits at the center of the cemetery’s Confederate section. For the next 30 days, the cemetery is soliciting comments from the public as a part of that process. . . .
. . . . President William McKinley revised the U.S. government’s policy on maintaining Confederate grave sites, and he approved a petition asking for a Confederate section in the national cemetery. Congress passed a law allowing for Confederate graves scattered in Arlington to be dug up and reinterred in the new section.
The Confederate grave markers have pointed tops, unlike the rounded tops elsewhere in the cemetery. They are also not buried in orderly rows like the other sections. Instead, they are arranged in a ring around the Confederate Monument at the center of Stonewall Jackson Circle. Planning and fundraising for the memorial at the center began in 1904, and permission to build it was granted in 1906.
Now, after standing for more than a century in its position, the Confederate Memorial is set to be removed. Arlington National Cemetery is seeking comments from the public on its congressionally mandated relocation.
Though lawsuits to prevent its relocation are ongoing, the cemetery is already planning for that relocation, but is inviting the public to provide feedback on “alternatives that will avoid, minimize or mitigate adverse effects of the monument’s removal.” . . . . (read more on Military.com)
Background:
Removal of the Confederate Memorial (Arlington National Cemetery)
As required by Congress and implemented by the Secretary of Defense, Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) is required to remove the Confederate Memorial at ANC and has initiated a process to prepare for the careful removal and relocation of the memorial, located in Section 16 of the cemetery. . . . .
Comment Form:
Arlington National Cemetery: Confederate Memorial Removal Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) (Arlington National Cemetery)
Army National Military Cemeteries (ANMC) is providing the public with opportunities to submit their comments on the Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) Confederate Memorial Removal Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The EIS is being prepared as required by the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA). At the same time, ANMC is following the Section 106 process mandated by the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).
During a 30-day period, ANMC is requesting the public’s input on the proposed action and alternatives. Comments submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on September 2, 2023, will be considered in preparation of the Draft EIS and the Identification of Historic Properties under Section 106.
Fill out the Comment Form
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