A driver in Alexandria may have inadvertently contributed to a long-running fight to get the Appomattox statue commemorating Confederate soldiers removed from its pedestal.
Someone crashed into the statue at the intersection of S. Washington Street and Prince Street this weekend, Alexandria police confirmed to ALXnow.
“The statue was damaged by a vehicle at approximately 2 a.m. Saturday morning,” said APD spokesman Lt. Courtney Ballantine via email. “The Daughters of the Confederacy (owners) were notified and will make any necessary repairs.”
The base of the statue is cracked, with the statue itself now unevenly aligned, photos show. It is not the first time the statue has been damaged by a car — in 1988, a crash completely toppled the statue.
The statue was installed in 1889, during a time when streets throughout the South were renamed after Confederate leaders and statues were installed as a campaign of oppression against black residents. The statue was meant to symbolize a burial of hatred and conflicts from the Civil War, according to Alexandria Gazette articles from the time, but things didn’t really turn out that way.
Across several mayors and city councils, Alexandria has repeatedly expressed its desire to have the statue taken down, but a law passed by the state legislature in 1998 prohibits local governments from altering monuments to wars and veterans. Any movement of the statue would require the support of the statue’s owners, the Daughters of the Confederacy.
Mayor Justin Wilson said the weekend’s crash does not impact the state law governing the city’s inability to remove it.
“That being said, our staff is assessing the safety of the statue and conferring with the Daughters of the Confederacy as to next steps,” Wilson said.
Hat tip to Drew Hansen
Recent Stories
There are still a number of available volunteer opportunities in Alexandria this summer. “We need hundreds of people per week,” Volunteer Alexandria Executive Director Marion Brunken told ALXnow. “More people…
Alexandria’s COVID-19 uptick continues to gain steam, as there have been 118 new cases reported in the last week, according to the Virginia Department of Health. There were also 204…
Mayor recommends residents try out slaughterhouse — “Excited to say hello to the DC Poultry Market on Colvin Street this afternoon. They’re now open and it’s wonderful to have a…
What an absorbing week in Alexandria. Just as the ball gets rolling with reopening and loosened restrictions, the pandemic rears its ugly head. With coronavirus transmission levels climbing, Alexandria is…
