Robert E. Lee Monument (Charlottesville, Virginia)

In 1917, Paul Goodloe McIntire commissioned the statue from the artist Henry Shrady (1871–1922). It was the second of four works McIntire commissioned from members of the National Sculpture Society. He wanted a public setting for the statue, buying a city block of land and demolishing existing structures on it to create a formal landscaped square, later named Lee Park (currently Market Street Park), the first of four parks McIntire would donate to Charlottesville. ==Attempts to remove the statue ==

In March 2016, Charlottesville's Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy publicly called on the City Council to remove the Lee statue and rename Lee Park, saying that the statue's presence "disrespected" parts of the community, and that he had "spoken with several different people who have said they have refused to step foot (sic) in that park because of what that statue and the name of that park represents. And we can't have that in the city of Charlottesville." Local NAACP head Rick Turner supported removal, calling Lee a terrorist. Others accused the council and Bellamy of disregarding Lee's historical significance, overlooking his importance to Virginia, sowing division, and trying to rewrite history. A petition to remove the statue was initiated, with wording saying the statue represented "hate" and was a "subliminal message of racism". In April 2016, the City Council appointed a special commission, named the Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Monuments and Public Spaces, to recommend to city officials how to best handle issues surrounding the statues of Stonewall Jackson in Court Square and Lee in Lee Park, as well as other landmarks and monuments. Early in November 2016, the Blue Ribbon Commission voted 6–3 to let both statues remain in place. On November 28, 2016, it voted 7–2 to remove the Lee statue to McIntire Park in Charlottesville and 8–1 to keep the Jackson statue in place, delivering a final report with that recommendation to the Charlottesville City Council in December. Lawsuit In response, a lawsuit was filed on March 20, 2017, by multiple plaintiffs, including the Monument Fund Inc, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and descendants of the statue's donor and sculptor, to block the removal of the Lee and Jackson statues. The lawsuit sought a temporary injunction to halt the removal, arguing that the City Council's decision violated a state law designed to protect veterans' monuments and memorials, in this case veterans of the American Civil War, and that the council had additionally violated the terms of McIntire's gift to Charlottesville of the statue and the land for Lee Park. The city responded by asking that the temporary injunction be denied, arguing that the two statues were not Confederate monuments and therefore outside the law's protection. The city also argued that the law did not apply to any monuments erected before it was amended to apply to cities in 1997 -- which argument ultimately prevailed. In April 2017, the City Council voted 3-2 (exactly along the lines of the February vote) that the statue be removed completely from Charlottesville and sold to whomever the council chose. On May 2, 2017, Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Richard Moore issued a temporary injunction blocking the removal of the Lee statue for six months, in the public's interest, pending his final decision in the suit. On April 1, 2021, the Virginia Supreme Court overturned Moore's decision and lifted the injunction. A second lawsuit was filed by the Trevilian Station Battlefield Foundation and the Ratcliffe Foundation shortly thereafter. In 2023, the counts pertaining to the statue's fate were dismissed for lack of standing, clearing the way for the project to proceed. Unite the Right rally On May 13, 2017, neo-Nazi Richard B. Spencer led a torch-lit rally in Lee Park in protest of the City Council's decision to remove and sell the Lee statue and chanted "you will not replace us" and "Russia is our friend". Some of the ralliers procured bamboo tiki torches for a second, nighttime rally and shouted slogans including "Jews will not replace us", but put out their torches and left as police officers began to arrive to disperse them. and Michael Signer, the mayor of Charlottesville. Signer, who opposed the statue's removal, condemned the initial rally the night before. The organizations dedicated to preserving the Lee statue issued a statement denying any involvement in the rally. On August 12, 2017, during the Unite the Right rally, clashes broke out between supporters of the statue, who marched under Confederate, American, and Revolutionary flags, and counter-protesters. During the rally, counter-protester Heather Heyer was killed and 19 injured by a car ramming attack. City and public responses On August 20, 2017, the City Council unanimously voted to shroud both the Lee and Jackson statues in black. The council "also decided to direct the city manager to take an administrative step that would make it easier to eventually remove the Jackson statue." The statues were covered in black shrouds on August 23, 2017. On February 27, 2018, Judge Richard Moore ruled that the City of Charlottesville had to remove the black tarps covering the statues and the city complied, removing the shrouds a day later. Sometime overnight between July 7 and 8, 2017, the Lee statue was vandalized by being daubed in red paint. It had been vandalized before; in June 2016, the pedestal was spray painted with the words "Black Lives Matter". On November 28, 2019, the statue was painted with graffiti, saying: "Impeach Trump" and "This is Racist". == Removal and melting down==

On the morning of July 10, 2021, the Lee statue was removed from its pedestal by the city. The statue was taken away from the site on a flatbed truck. The city stated that the statue would be put into storage and the stone base removed at a later date, and that the final disposition of the statue was yet to be decided. In December 2021, the City Council approved a plan to melt down the statue and repurpose its material for public art. In 2025, the melted down statue (in the form of bronze ingots) was displayed in the exhibition Monuments at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, alongside other removed Confederate monuments and contemporary works by artists like Kara Walker. Future plans are to create a new work of art with these ingots. ==See also==