Restoration of torn-down Confederate monument will cost $10 million over 2 years, military says

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Restoring a memorial to the Confederacy that was removed from Arlington National Cemetery at the recommendation of Congress will cost roughly $10 million total, a U.S. Army official said Wednesday — the latest development in a Trump administration effort to combat what it calls “erasing American history.”

Once back in the cemetery, the monument — described a few years ago as “problematic from top to bottom” — will also feature panels nearby that will offer context about its history, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity about a project still in progress.

The Pentagon expects it to take about two years to restore the monument to its original site, the official told The Associated Press. The base that it sat on needs to be replaced and the monument itself will be refurbished as well.

On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the Pentagon would reinstall the memorial at Arlington — an expanse just outside Washington that once contained the land of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee — less than two years after it was removed on the recommendation of an independent commission.

On social media Tuesday, Hegseth said the Arlington statue “never should have been taken down by woke lemmings. Unlike the Left, we don’t believe in erasing American history — we honor it.”

The Confederate monument, erected in 1914, was the creation of sculptor and Confederate veteran Moses Ezekiel. It features a classical female figure, crowned with olive leaves, representing the American South, alongside sanitized depictions of slavery.

In 2022, a congressionally mandated commission recommended that the memorial, along with scores of other military assets that bore Confederate references, be either removed...

It is no coincidence that the Reconciliation Monument was desecrated at the height of the antisemitic movement in the U.S. Needless to say, the monument's designer, Moses Ezekiel, was Jewish.

It still rankles the Jew-haters that it was the Confederacy that had the first Jew to serve at the cabinet level in North America - Judah P. Benjamin.

And, of course, General Grant's antisemitism is legendary including his General Order No. 11.

Antisemitism is stronger today than ever, especially in the modern democrat party; not so much anymore in the GOP ranks. It will be good to see Moses Ezekiel's artwork restored at Lee's Arlington.

"Eat shit Leftists. Your attempt to erase American history has failed."

The best numbers I can find suggest that roughly 700 Confederate monuments were erected between 1890 and 1950s.
Of those, about 40% have since been relocated to less prominent places, but very few -- only around 15 -- were destroyed.

IOW, if you go looking for the original 700 Confederate monuments, about 400 are still there and 285 of those removed are now in a safer place, such as cemeteries, museums or private lands.

In addition to Confederate monuments, there were around 1,300 streets, schools, parks & other government buildings named after Confederates.
Today around 900 (2/3) of those remain.

One can easily suppose that the old Confederate monuments & symbols remain untouched in areas where they are considered non-controversial, and have been removed or relocated from areas where they seem offensive to today's local populations.

11th_VA: "For context - in the 18th century, about 250,000 slaves were brought to America as well as an equal number of Indentured Servants.
We never hear about the indentured servants,"

There were three categories of Americans "held to service or labor" (to use the Constitution's terms):

Around 600,000 indentured servants from 1630s-1820s, making up to 75% of migrants to some areas, and of those about 80% were men.
Their terms of servitude were typically 4-7 years.
Around 50,000 prisoners from 1718-1775, all men with terms typically from 7-14 years, often treated more harshly than either indentured servants or African slaves.
Around 400,000 African slaves from 1625-1860s, held as slaves for life and their descendants as well.

Especially with indentured servants, since most were young men, once their service was completed, they were free to marry, move to settle and live normal lives.

With prisoners, their treatments were often harsh and many didn't survive, but those who did were also then free to move, often out to frontier areas where their pasts were unknown.

African slaves were originally treated as indentured servants who could earn their freedom, but that quickly eroded and by 1662 in Virginia, African slavery was permanent and inherited.
The term "chattel slavery" was not used in the 17th or 18th century, but the practice was well established at the time.

By 1790, about 10% of African Americans were freed-slaves with the largest numbers in Virginia (13,000), Maryland (8,000) and Pennsylvania (7,000), highly suggesting that Revolutionary War era promises of freedom to slaves for their honorable military services were fulfilled in thousands of cases.

By 1790, property owning freed African Americans could vote in some states:

New Jersey
Pennsylvania
New York
Connecticut
Massachusetts
Maryland

That ended under Jeffersonian Democrats "universal suffrage" which meant every man "free, white and 21" could vote, but nobody else.

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