West Point to Remove Monuments to Confederate Alumni

Lieutenant General Steven Gilland, the current superintendent of West Point, announced yesterday afternoon that the historic military academy would begin removing Confederate monuments and artwork across its properties over the upcoming holiday break.

{snip}

Robert E. Lee, the Confederacy’s leading general and a graduate of West Point, features prominently in Gilland’s letter. The reconstruction efforts West Point will begin undertaking over the holiday break include replacing Lee’s uniform from the USMA Library, a bust of Lee at Reconciliation Plaza, and a quote of Lee’s at Honor Plaza.

The school will also be renaming several Confederate-related buildings and streets in the surrounding area including Lee Barracks, Lee Housing Area, Beauregard Place, and Hardee Place.

A Naming Commission appointed by Congress to address the question of renaming the Confederate monuments on campus recommended removing such tributes in August 2022, arguing that the school resisted honoring Confederates for decades after the Civil War until finally relenting to political pressure in the 1930’s.

{snip}