Robert E. Lee Monument
The Robert E. Lee Monument was an outdoor bronze equestrian statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee and his horse Traveller. It stood in Charlottesville, Virginia, in what is now Market Street Park, formerly called Emancipation Park and earlier Lee Park. Commissioned in 1917 and dedicated in 1924, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. The statue became the focus of controversy in the 2010s amid efforts to remove Confederate monuments. After years of legal challenges and public debate, it was removed by the city on July 10, 2021. The statue was later given to Swords into Plowshares and melted down in 2023, with plans for future public artwork.
August 2016 © Kirycon · CC BY-SA 4.0
September 2017 © ROTH440K · CC BY-SA 4.0
August 2008 © Bill McChesney · CC BY 2.0
May 2017 © RW Pippin · CC BY-SA 4.0
August 2017 © Mark Chackerian · CC BY-SA 4.0
Identification | |
| Title | Robert E. Lee Monument |
| Subject | Robert E. Lee and his horse Traveller |
| Status | Former sculpture |
| Type | Outdoor bronze equestrian statue |
Historical context | |
| Public response | The removal proposal generated controversy, complaints from Confederate sympathizers and some historians, and broader protests and counterprotests |
| Related event | A Ku Klux Klan rally on July 8, 2017 protested removal; police used tear gas and 23 arrests were made |
| Related event | A torch-lit rally led by Richard B. Spencer in Lee Park on May 13, 2017 protested removal and sale of the statue |
| Related event | The Unite the Right rally in August 2017 was organized by white supremacists to protest the proposed removal and led to counterdemonstrations, serious clashes, and a deadly car attack that killed one person and wounded 35 |
| Related event | On August 12, 2017, clashes during the Unite the Right rally killed Heather Heyer and injured 19 by car ramming |
| Context | A Confederate monument erected in the 1920s during the Jim Crow segregation era, not contemporary with the American Civil War |
Creator | |
| Pedestal designer | Walter Blair |
| Completed by | Leo Lentelli (1879–1961) |
| Original sculptor | Henry Shrady (1871–1922) |
| Commission date | 1917 |
| Commissioned by | Paul Goodloe McIntire |
Discovery and provenance | |
| Intended setting | A public setting |
| Commission series position | Second of four works McIntire commissioned from members of the National Sculpture Society |
| Donor of statue and land | John L. McIntire |
| Foundry | Roman Bronze Works, Brooklyn, New York |
| Completion date | 1924 |
| Dedication date | May 21, 1924 |
| Listed on National Register of Historic Places | 1997 |
| Site prepared by | McIntire bought a city block of land and demolished existing structures to create a formal landscaped square |
Location and ownership | |
| Former park name | Lee Park |
| Associated monument | Stonewall Jackson statue in Court Square |
| Current park name | Market Street Park |
| Later park name | Emancipation Park |
| Current location | Market Street Park, Charlottesville, Virginia, in the Charlottesville and Albemarle County Courthouse Historic District |
| Original location | Lee Park, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States |
Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | Approximately 26 feet high, 12 feet long, and 8 feet wide at the base of the pedestal |
| Pedestal material | Pink granite |
| Pedestal shape | Oval granite pedestal |
Materials | |
| Statue material | Bronze |
Appearance | |
| Inscription | "Robert Edward Lee" with the dates 1807 and 1870 on the side |
| Depicted subject on pedestal inscription | Robert Edward Lee |
History and restoration | |
| Removal process used | The city used the 2020 amended removal process, with public notice, a public hearing after 30 days, and 30 days to solicit relocation offers |
| Public controversy | The statue became a focal point of debate over Confederate monuments, race, and history in Charlottesville |
| Vandalism | Black Lives Matter graffiti on the pedestal in 2015 and June 2016; red paint overnight on July 7–8, 2017; damage by chisel on October 14, 2019; graffiti reading "Impeach Trump" and "This is Racist" on November 28, 2019 |
| Shroud removal order | Ordered removed in February 2018 by a judge |
| Shrouded in black | August 23, 2017 |
| Removal method | Taken down from its pedestal by city services and removed on a flatbed truck |
| Virginia Supreme Court ruling | April 2021; lifted the injunction and held that the state law did not apply retroactively to statues passed before its effect |
| Temporary injunction | Issued in May 2017 by Judge Richard Moore, citing a Virginia state law that blocked removal |
| Legal dispute | Removal was challenged in court by multiple plaintiffs, including Monument Fund Inc., the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and descendants of the statue's donor and sculptor |
| Renaming decision | Lee Park was to be renamed |
| Removal vote | Charlottesville City Council voted 3–2 to remove the statue |
| Removal decision date | February 6, 2017 |
| Later fate | Transferred to Swords into Plowshares and melted in October 2023 into bronze ingots for future public art |
| Post-removal storage | Stored after removal; the stone base was to be removed later |
| Removal announcement | July 9, 2021 |
| Removed | July 10, 2021 |
| Permanent injunction | Granted in July 2019, and in October 2019 Moore ruled the statues were war memorials protected by state law |
Significance | |
| Related artwork | Charlottesville's Jackson statue was transformed into Unmanned Drone by Kara Walker |
| Public support and activism | Zyahna Bryant launched a 2016 petition and open letter calling for removal of the statue and renaming of the park; local NAACP head Rick Turner supported removal; Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy also called for removal and renaming |
| Future project details | In 2026, Dana King and Model of Architecture Serving Society were selected by community ranked-choice voting to create ROOTED, a 27-foot-tall baobab tree sculpture for the center of Market Street Park using bronze ingots from the Lee statue and the granite base, with added paths and seasonal gardens |
| Related project | ROOTED, a new baobab sculpture planned for Market Street Park |
| Related project | Swords into Plowshares |
| Commission recommendation | On November 28, 2016 it voted 7–2 to remove the Lee statue to McIntire Park in Charlottesville |
| 2025 exhibition installation | Bronze ingots stacked on two pallets next to containers of debris, charcoal, and slag; the base retained graffiti reading "As white supremacy crumbles" |
| 2025 exhibition theme | History of American commemoration of white supremacy and the Lost Cause, especially via Confederate monuments |
| 2025 exhibition | Displayed in Monuments at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles |
| Initial commission vote | In early November 2016 the commission voted 6–3 to let both statues remain in place |
| Commission reviewing monument | Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Monuments and Public Spaces |
Other | |
| Approximate size of bronze ingots | Two tons |
| Notable material use | The statue's ingots were later used with the Jackson statue's ingots for the 2025 Monuments exhibition |