This week Richmond, Virginia erects a new monument marking the liberation of the city by Union troops in April 1865 and the end of slavery in the United States. Many of the soldiers who freed the city were United States Colored Troops and Black Cavalrymen from Massachusetts. York News describes the monument:
The Emancipation and Freedom memorial was unveiled Wednesday at a dedication ceremony in Richmond…The new monument features two 12-foot bronze statues of freed slaves — one of a shirtless man with chains falling from his wrists, and the other of a woman holding an infant in one arm while holding an emancipation document high over her head.
The woman stands on a pedestal where the names and biographies of 10 historic Black Virginians are inscribed, including Nat Turner, William Harvey Carney and Dred Scott, all slaves whose actions became legendary in the fight for freedom.
“The enslaved built this city with their hands,” Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney said at the ceremony, according to Reuters. “We will rebuild this city with our hearts.”
William Carney was the color bearer of the famous 54th Massachusetts regiment. He received the Medal of Honor for his courage during the unit’s charge at Battery Wagner in South Carolina.
Here are the two panels at the memorial:
Here is the male figure:
Follow Reconstruction Blog on Social Media:
Richmond has turned into Chicago, and on our next trip to the Southland, we will be taking Richmond off the visit list. I’m from Wales, UK and the history of the civil war is of interest to me and my fellow travellers. Since all the unrest created by blm and antifa , folks here in the UK have second thoughts about taking a vacation to the US. What we have witnessed here in the UK and around the world is a country that has become lawless and favours the criminal element. In addition, we are horrified at the destruction of monuments and the digging up of dead folks. We are now creating support groups here in Wales, England, Italy, Germany and France. Our intention is to support the the people of the Southland from the ethnic cleansing.
Racist asshole.
Thank you for visiting us Gary; you and your family are always welcome along with others who wish to enjoy our rich history. I’m embarrassed and give you my personal apology for what our elected leaders have allowed. The CSA stood up to Government Tyranny, taxation etc in their 2nd war for independence in 1861 and if true American Patriots understood their fight, monuments would be added rather than removed. Slavery was a horrible mistake and continues to be throughout the world and it affected the US in the 1800s, but it was NOT the cause of our Civil War (follow the money)
The balls of a small group which are nothing more than domestic terrorists who can’t think for themselves want to erase the memories of our history??? And WE LET THEM!!
You can’t even fabricate the trash that’s going on within our borders, but I do hope you’ll continue to visit…..safe travels
“Chuck” you obviously know nothing of the history you claim to cherish. The Founding Fathers of the Confederacy did not see slavery as a mistake to be overcome, they saw it as central to their economic and social system. Their own apologia for going to war against the United States clearly identifies the defense of slavery as the cause of the war. Following the defeat of the Confederate armies, many of the same men organized terrorist attacks on Black communities to bar African Americans from voting. When they regained control of state governments, they enacted legal bars on Black voting in order to, in their own words, insure White Supremacy.
I agree, Pat. Your blog has become a magnet for extremists, unfortunately.
Who is the sculptor? Too often the statues become a political football to the politicians and the artists that did the work are forgotten.
Odd how these guys all think “Black Lives Matter” is subversive, somehow. And how they have cultivated an almost entirely fictionalized the power of Antifa. If you want to get Neo-Nazis to know they have resistance in a certain area, there has been, in some places, some local resistance. You’re the guys with all the Proud Boys and alt-right and 3-percenters, etc., etc., who are national organizations.