ABSTRACT
This chapter unpacks the story of the 1903–1910 struggle over the installation of a statue of former Confederate General Robert E. Lee in the United States Capitol’s National Statuary Hall. Touted as a symbol of sectional reconciliation and national reunion by its Virginian sponsors, the statue actually exposed lingering rifts in American society created by divergent memories of the Civil War. It was widely opposed by northerners—particularly Union veterans and African Americans—who considered it an affront to their sacrifices and an unacceptable vindication of disloyalty, treason, and white supremacy. And though the statue was ultimately included in the Capitol, the battle over Lee’s image provides a useful case study for understanding the degrees to which Americans accepted (and rejected) post-Civil War reconciliation in the early twentieth century. It also traces the origins of a prominent Confederate monument (one, moreover, in a national commemorative space), thus providing important context on the contested nature of these artifacts that can inform ongoing debates over their placement and meaning.
