Fairfax County board votes to remove Confederate monument
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| The John Marr monument at the courthouse. |
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted 9-0 on Sept. 15 to remove the county-owned Confederate monument from the Judicial Complex in Fairfax. Supervisor Pat Herrity (Springfield) abstained.
The monument includes an obelisk commemorating the death of John Quincy Marr, the first Confederate officer killed during the Civil War, two brass howitzers that flank the monument, and a marker installed by the Virginia Department of Historical Records (VDHR).
The monument, unveiled in 1904, is in front of the courthouse near the intersection of routes 123 and 236. Marr was killed during a June 1, 1861, cavalry skirmish at that location.
The brass howitzers were installed in 1910. The historical marker was put up in 2009 by the Fairfax County History Commission, City of Fairfax, and VDHR.
Before the items are removed, state law requires the BoS to offer them to a museum, historical society, government, or battlefield for a period of 30 days. After 30 days, the board will take a final vote on removal and decide where they should go.
About two dozen people spoke at the board hearing. Most of them urged the BoS to retain the monuments, citing the need to commemorate a historical incident and preserve the county’s Civil War heritage.
One of those who spoke in favor of removal called the Confederates traitors and racists and said they should not be honored with a memorial. Another speaker suggested the monument be replaced with a memorial for the murder of enslaved people.
Supervisor Dalia Palchik (Providence), who made the motion to remove the monument, said Civil War monuments were “affirmations of white supremacy under Southern history and tradition. They do not reflect our community’s values.”
“Our monuments should exemplify the commitment to our county’s diversity and belief in opportunity,” Palchik said. “This is not a matter of erasing history. Our commitment to teaching history, both right and wrong, is among our highest priorities.”
Related story: Fairfax County to review Confederate place names
Supervisor John Walkinshaw (Braddock) said the monument should be removed, because it was put up after Reconstruction, during a period when “whites imposed a racist regime, which embraced the ‘Lost Cause’ mythology.”
That mythology, Walkinshaw said, was “the idea that the South was noble, chivalrous, and they fought to defend their culture, Christianity, and states’ rights,” and that the Civil War wasn’t about defending slavery.
The Daughters of the Confederate Veterans (later knows as the United Daughters of the Confederacy) was a key organization in promoting that mythology, he said. That group, which was an ally of the Ku Klux Klan, put up monuments all over to honor the glories of the Confederacy and promote the Lost Cause ideology.
During Reconstruction, blacks could vote and be elected to office, but by 1902, Reconstruction was reversed. Virginia approved a new constitution requiring poll taxes and tests to prevent Blacks from voting.
“This monument was the final celebration of that effort,” Walkinshaw said. “It’s not history; it’s a myth that led to brutality and oppression against black Virginians.”
The cost to remove and relocate the monument to a storage facility is estimated at $19,560.
The BoS had previously requested the Fairfax County History Commission to carry out a full inventory of streets, monuments, and public places named after Confederate officials. That report is due by the end of the year.
15 responses to “Fairfax County board votes to remove Confederate monument”
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I guess that means there is hope that we can rename John Marr Drive in our own Annandale? If there is no reason for a monument to this person than there is no reason for a street named after him either.
agreed!
Changing the name of John Marr Dr. accomplishes nothing but to create major inconvenience for those businesses that line this street. Marr wasn't a leader of the secessionist movement. In fact, he initially opposed secession. Hopefully, it will eventually become clear to even to the most hardened historical revisionists on the BOS that wiping every reference to the Confederacy off the map is unrealistic. – Sparky
Marr is celebrated by some as the first Confederate casualty in Virginia. That is why he has (had) a statue. Not sure what difference it makes that he opposed secession – does that make his putting on the Confederate uniform okay? And just to be clear, I am all for removing anything celebrating an insurrection against the Union off the map – except pre-existing geographical names.
by "….the most hardened historical revisionists…" I assume you are ignoring the proponents of 'the lost cause" mythology as well as the Daughters and Sons of the Confederacy. Go on-line and have a look at the statue in the town square in Oxford MS directly opposite the courthouse. Be sure to read and its origins. As to its principal inscription it reads. "They gave their lives in a jsut and holy cause. And yes, the local BoS there rejected the idea of relocating the statue or providing any context. The Recent Unpleasantness between the States continues…
LOL
Milenial logic – if we hide it it will not exist
Go ahead, run from your history, eradicate anyone who does not align with your thoughts and ideals.
History will judge such coward and narrow mind actions.
Go ahead and use the term "millennial" (at least spell it right…) for anyone younger than you who doesn't agree with your "thoughts and ideals". It's so lazy and you are doing the same thing you just accused that group of. History will judge such uneducated and narrow minded narratives…..
WHATEVER WILL I DO WITHOUT A STATUE TELLING ME ABOUT HISTORY! we’re not burning books and shutting down Wikipedia here people.
I think they should've kept the monument and placed an informational sign next to it explaining the historical context of the monument laid out in the article. We save money and get the ugly racial history. Win-win.
"The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history"
"Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statute and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. An that process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except the endless present in which the party is always right."
"The people will believe what the media tells them they believe"
George Orwell
In other words, precisely what the the Lost Cause, Birth of a Nation, and Gone with the Wind all did/do.
Any relationship that is not consensual is by definition tyrannical.
That applies to the slavery which the south seceded to preserve, Lincoln's unconstitutional war of aggression against the south that he lied the north into waging, and this ongoing non-consensual "sacrosanct" union between increasingly inhospitable groups and the totalitarian government which forces them together so that it can impose its rule onto all of them.
Tin foil hats are on sale at Target now.
L
"Lincoln's unconstitutional war of aggression…"
The Lost Cause rises again and again and again!
ROTF LMAO
Why NBA has no Asian player, and nobody protest about it?
TJ Admission exam is dropped to raise students diversity, the slower students will suffer fast and high intensified academic study. Then school will lower their standard of learning. Science and technology rely on top talented persons regardless of their races. The TJ admission diversity is an excuse for non qualified students get in just because their race. just like asking a 5 feet tall man to become a NBA player.