Nope. The Writer’s Circle is not going to get dragged into any of the astonishing stuff that is going on today. We are at a mid-point, of sorts, between the celebration of the accomplishments of Labor last weekend and the remembrance of the horror that occurred on a lovely morning in Arlington not quite 20 years ago, almost to the moment.

We agreed to hold off on that. There are some other loose ends being cleaned up before that anniversary. One of them is that gigantic statue of Robert E. Lee. It came down yesterday from it’s perch on Richmond’s Monument Avenue where it had stood for more than a century. Apparently, the people of this state, the one that was capital of some rebellious people, had wanted to honor one of their native sons. The current residents of the same state were divided over the feelings of those other people, all of them deceased.

The 12-ton figure of Lee and his horse Traveller (which outlived him) was the last monument to that episode in Virginia’s long and sometimes controversial history. Press reporting indicates hundreds of people were present to cheer and sing as the 21-foot tall bronze figure was lifted off the pedestal on which it was mounted. In order to facilitate transport, the statue was sawn in two to avoid overpasses. The local press indicates the pieces of General Lee will be placed in State-owned storage pending resolution of history

The Writer’s Circle includes veterans of the same armed forces that defeated General Lee. This would be the moment we would gesture for one of the Interns to walk slowly through the front row with one of the Footnote signs, indicating our families fought to make him capitulate. In my case, it was service in the 72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry under a flag very similar to the one that flies over our land today. Of course, our G3 Grandfather is also listed as a deserter from the Grand Army of the Republic, though we feel his re-enlistment is of some controversy, since he successfully completed three years service in the conflict, and had been born in a foreign land.

If you have not followed the commotion about all this, you have our sympathy. It is complex. Other members of the family chose to wear the other-colored uniform, and left more colorful accounts of their war. But the removal this week is termed a “major victory for civil rights activists” by the Associated Press, and marks the end of a long struggle that had been “steadfastly rebuked by city and state officials alike.”

There is more commentary from the activist community in celebration of the moment. The general sentiment is that it represents the “peeling back the layers of injustice” symbolized by the tons of bronze. There are other opinions, of course.

Our current Governor represents some of that. He ran as a sort of moderate progressive, but his image was damaged after his election by some embarrassing old pictures found in a yearbook. He was thus undermined in his authenticity, which apparently includes most of the rest of the state as well. The late unpleasantness in America’s streets helped ratchet up the level of emotion about the matter, which finally was resolved by a decision of the Virginia Supreme Court last week.
The Justices overturned previous disputes over the status of relics from the defeated parties. Four other statues of ambiguous status were removed last year as part of the campaign.

To assert his virtue, the Governor himself showed up to witness the cranes at work. He reportedly called it a symbol of “a new era in Virginia.” We agree with that, of course. There are all sorts of conflicts remaining. The Washington-Lee University apparently is keeping its current name, although that appears to be a matter left to the school’s administration and alumni donors.

Within hours of the formal removal, the bronze pieces were hauled away on a flatbed truck to cheers from those who stuck around to see it. The AP reports the pedestal on which it sat is to remain in place for now, although workers are supposed to remove a time capsule from its interior today.

We would be interested in seeing what those older citizens were thinking when they put the statue up, though we are not expecting headlines. No arrests were reported during the proceedings, unlike the demonstrations in nearby Charlottesville in 2017 that seemed to kick off the summer of rioting, no counter protesters showed up. We don’t know if the FBI was there. We assume so, since they have had a tumultuous role in all that has gone on the last couple years.

Opponents to the removal argued for the artistic and historical significance of our state’s role in the massive struggle.

The Writer’s Circle includes descendants of veterans from both sides of the conflict. We are not quite sure what we think about the whole thing, since we honor the memory of saving the Union and abolishing an infernal institution. But that would include a little context on just how big and passionate the conflict really was. And why more that 600,000 solders died and millions had their lives fundamentally changed.

There is still some controversy about all that but it seems unlikely to be resolved. None of us drove down to see the removal. We have all learned to stay away from crowds recently.

Copyright 2021 Vic Socotra
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