Richmond, Va., removes last city-owned Confederate monument

Chanelle Chandler
·Reporter
Updated ·3 min read
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Workers begin to put the bronze statue of Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill onto a flatbed truck in Richmond, Va.
Workers begin to put the bronze statue of Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill onto a flatbed truck in Richmond, Va., on Monday. (John C. Clark/AP)

The city of Richmond, Va., on Monday removed its last city-owned Confederate monument, that of Gen. A.P. Hill, from a prominent spot in Virginia’s capital.

John Hill, a descendant of the general, said he took an eight-hour road trip overnight from Ohio to Virginia to witness the removal of his ancestor’s statue.

The monument was erected in 1892 with the general, who was killed in 1865 during the final days of the Civil War, buried under the statue. The monument was centered at the busy intersection of Laburnum Avenue and Hermitage Road in the city’s Northside neighborhood.

A statue of Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill stands above his grave at the intersection of Laburnum Avenue and Hermitage Road in Richmond, Va.
The statue of Hill stands above his grave at the intersection of Laburnum Avenue and Hermitage Road in Richmond. (Julia Rendleman/Washington Post via Getty Images)

“His remains are underneath that monument. I just want to make sure they’re removed respectfully,” John Hill told CBS 6 News about why he made the drive. “It’s a tough day. Trying to be calm about everything and hope everything goes well.”

City leaders have asked for the monument to be placed in the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia, along with 11 other Confederate monuments that had been erected after the Civil War in Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy. The controversial monuments, including one of Gen. Stonewall Jackson, were removed amid racial justice protests after George Floyd’s killing in 2020. The removal of the 130-year-old statue of Hill was more complicated because of the location of the general’s remains. They will be sent to Fairview Cemetery in Culpeper, Va., where Hill was born.

The process of the removal began after Richmond Circuit Court Judge David Eugene Cheek Sr. rejected a motion in October from four indirect descendants of Hill to stop the city’s removal plans. Attorneys for those descendants had argued that the ownership of the statue portion of the monument was a grave marker, making it personal property, and should be transferred to them.

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the family had wanted to move the statue portion to Culpeper’s Cedar Mountain Battlefield. In a motion last week, Cheek denied the family’s motion to block the removal. The city deputy chief administrative officer, Robert Steidel, said the monument will be kept in storage while the case goes through the expected appeal process.

The removal of the monument also comes as a welcome relief to traffic safety advocates, who had warned that the statue helped make the intersection one of Richmond’s most dangerous, according to the Washington Post.

Traffic moves around the circle at the monument of Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill, which contains his remains.
Traffic moves around the circle at the monument. (Steve Helber/AP)

“I don’t care who’s buried there — Mickey Mouse, General MacArthur, Saint Peter himself — I don’t care,” a woman who lives a block from the statue told the Washington Post. “I want people to be safe at this intersection.”

The City Council hopes that after the removal, the area around the circle will be paved and safety will improve.

“Right now it will probably, definitely be an intersection. But long term, we're looking at a roundabout, a fountain. I would like a big, huge crosswalk to be there, with artwork from the students," Richmond City Council member Ann-Frances Lambert, who represents the district, told CBS 6 News.