Three Confederate monuments were removed from Virginia’s Capitol Square after lawmakers placed the removal directive and $1.8 million in funding inside the state budget months after a standalone bill stalled in the House.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Three Confederate statues that had stood for more than a century on Virginia’s Capitol Square were removed Friday under a provision inserted into the state budget after an earlier standalone measure failed to clear the General Assembly.
Contractors removed monuments honoring Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Confederate Army surgeon Dr. Hunter Holmes McGuire and William “Extra Billy” Smith, a Confederate general who twice served as governor of Virginia.
Jackson’s statue had occupied the Capitol grounds since 1875. McGuire’s monument was installed in 1904, while the Smith statue dated to 1906.
Rather than approving the removals through separate legislation, lawmakers ultimately authorized the action through Budget Item 71 #1C in the fiscal 2027-28 state spending plan.
A Department of General Services spokesperson said the provision directed the agency to remove all Confederate monuments and memorials from Capitol Square.
The budget also provided $1.8 million for the work. The spending plan took effect July 1.
The removals followed a legislative route that had initially appeared unsuccessful.
Former state Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, introduced SB636 during the 2026 legislative session to remove Confederate monuments from Capitol Square. The proposal passed the Senate on a party-line vote but later stalled in the House Appropriations Committee.
Lawmakers subsequently placed the removal language in the state budget, allowing the policy to proceed despite the standalone bill’s failure.
Ebbin left the General Assembly to join Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration.
He said the decision concerned the figures Virginia chooses to honor on its most prominent government grounds rather than an effort to erase historical events.
“This doesn’t change the history of the Civil War,” Ebbin said. “It changes who we choose to venerate on the Capitol lawn.”
State Sen. Mike Jones, D-Richmond, said the action completed an effort he traced back several years.
“I’m glad that our current administration, Governor Spanberger, that they’re ensuring that we continue what we began some years ago,” Jones said.
Jones said the campaign to remove the monuments dated to 2018.
The removals also come amid broader changes involving Confederate symbols and organizations under Spanberger’s administration.
Spanberger campaigned as a moderate before issuing 10 executive orders on her first day as governor.
In April, the former U.S. congresswoman signed legislation eliminating tax exemptions for organizations associated with the Confederacy and ending renewals of specialty Virginia license plates depicting Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
The three statues removed Friday will not be destroyed under the state’s plan.
The budget directs that they be transferred to the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, which intends to relocate them to battlefield properties in the Shenandoah Valley.
David Walker, chief executive of the foundation, said preserving the monuments in a different setting would allow them to remain part of Virginia’s historical record.
“Preservation is more about the future than the past, and ensuring the preservation of the Capitol Square monuments is a part of that clear vision,” Walker said.
The Virginia removals came amid continuing national political debate over Confederate symbols and their place on government property.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said at a Boston campaign event last week that “the Confederacy is still alive and well” and that “that’s all MAGA is.”
Back in Richmond, the physical work at Capitol Square is expected to continue beyond the removal of the statues themselves.
The Department of General Services said crews could need as long as a week to dismantle and remove the three remaining pedestals.
The agency said there are currently no plans to install replacement monuments in the spaces left behind.
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