Story at a glance
- There are hundreds of statues, monuments, busts and places memorializing Confederate leaders from the Civil War.
- Many Americans are now demanding the removal of these symbols from public places.
- Business Insider determined the 10 names with the most memorials across the United States.
There were more than 1,700 symbols of the Confederacy in public spaces at the beginning of 2019, according to The Southern Poverty Law Center, including 780 monuments. In recent weeks and months, five of those have come down, some removed by local authorities, while others were toppled by protesters.
Of those that remain, Business Insider determined the 10 figures with statues, monuments, busts and places named in their honor.
Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Confederate army, has 223 statues, busts, monuments and places named after him. One of those sits in the capital of his home state, Virginia, and is now the subject of a federal court case after Gov. Ralph Northam (D) announced plans for its removal. A judge granted a temporary injunction against the order sought by Virginia resident William C. Gregory.
But another statue in downtown Fort Myers, Fla., was removed last week, with support from members of a Lee County founding family. A descendant of Lee, Robert W. Lee IV, has also publicly supported the removal of the Richmond monument.
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Jefferson Davis, former president of the Confederate States of America, had 148 statues, busts, monuments and places named after him when Business Insider published their count. That night, one came down in Richmond, the third Confederate monument to fall in that city in less than a week. The state’s Jefferson Davis Highway was renamed Richmond Highway in 2019.
Across the border in Kentucky, state Sen. Christian McDaniel is proposing a bill to replace a statue of Davis in the Capitol Rotunda with one of Carl Brashear, an African American Navy sailor and master diver from Kentucky who died in 2006.
Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, a Confederate general, has 110 statues, busts, monuments and places named after him. A petition calls for the removal of one Jackson statue in Charleston, W.Va., while in Virginia, Steven L. Walts, superintendent of Prince William County Schools, wants to rename schools in the district currently named after Jackson.
Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard, a Confederate general, has 57 statues, busts, monuments and places named after him. Camp Beauregard in Louisiana is one of 10 army bases named for Confederate generals that a Senate panel is proposing to rename.
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J.E.B. Stuart, a Confederate soldier, has 49 statues, busts and monuments named after him. His statue is one of three on Richmond’s Monument Avenue that has been the site of protests in recent weeks.
Scene at the JEB Stuart Monument. pic.twitter.com/zAEWZfW9mL
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A school in Richmond that bore Stuart’s name was renamed to honor former President Obama in 2018, along with another in Northern Virginia that was renamed Justice High School.
Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general and high-ranking member of the Ku Klux Klan, has 43 statues, busts, monuments and places named for him. Tennessee lawmakers voted to keep a bust in the state’s Capitol building and continue celebrating Nathan Bedford Forrest Day on July 13, but Gov. Bill Lee (R) will no longer be legally required to sign a proclamation designating the honor under a new measure.
Wade Hampton III, a Confederate general, has 16 statues, busts, monuments and places named after him. A statue of Hampton stands in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol Building, one of a number of Confederate statues House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has called to be removed from the building.
Joseph Wheeler, a Confederate general who later served in the Spanish-American and Philippine-American wars, has 15 statues, busts, monuments and places named after him. A statue of Wheeler stands in the U.S. Capitol Building, and it is one of the statues Pelosi has called to be removed.
John Bell Hood, a Confederate general, has 14 statues, busts, monuments and places named after him. Fort Hood in Texas is one of 10 Army bases named for Confederate generals that a Senate panel is proposing to rename.
Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general, has 13 statues, busts, monuments and places named after him. Fort Bragg in North Carolina is one of 10 army bases named for Confederate generals that a Senate panel is proposing to rename.
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