| Confederate Monument | |
| Designated Other1: | Virginia Landmarks Register |
| Designated Other1 Date: | December 4, 1996[1] |
| Designated Other1 Number: | 124-0183 |
| Designated Other1 Num Position: | bottom |
| Location: | Jct. of High and Court Sts., Portsmouth, Virginia |
| Coordinates: | 36.835°N -76.3011°W |
| Built: | 1876–1881 |
| Architect: | Charles E. Cassell |
| Added: | September 4, 1997 |
| Area: | less than one acre |
| Refnum: | 97000956 |
The Confederate Monument in Portsmouth, Virginia, was built between 1876 and 1881. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1997.
The monument is a 35-foot obelisk of North Carolina granite. It is located at the town square of Portsmouth, on Court Street at the corner of High Street. Also facing on the town square are the Trinity Episcopal Church dating from 1828 and the Portsmouth Courthouse dating from 1846, which are also NRHP-listed.[2]
It was erected by the Ladies Memorial Aid Association of Portsmouth, Virginia, which was founded in 1866 with one purpose "being the erection of a monument to the Confederate dead of Portsmouth and Norfolk County." The design was by topographical engineer Charles E. Cassell.[2]
The cornerstone was laid in 1876.The monument's capstone was not placed until 1881, and the monument as a whole was not completed until 1893.[2]
The four cast white bronze figures that surround the obelisk, including their heads and facial features, are largely generic.[3] The sailor figure, for example, also appears outside the G.A.R. Memorial Hall in Wabash, Indiana.
The city of Portsmouth "gave 1,242 men to the Confederacy of whom 199 were killed or died; Norfolk County gave 1,018 men to the cause of whom 280 were killed or died; and the City of Norfolk gave 1,119 of whom 176 were killed or died."[2]
In August 2017, in the wake of the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville Virginia where many White Supremacist groups protested the removal of Confederate monuments,[4] mayor of Portsmouth John Rowe called for the movement of the monument from its current location. Mayor Rowe's proposed new site for the monument is nearby Cedar Grove Cemetery where many Confederate soldiers are buried.[5] Shortly after the mayor's announcement, a Change.org petition amassing over 30,000 signatures went viral started by a local Virginia man named Nathan Coflin to have the current monument replaced by a statue of Portsmouth native rap artist and businesswoman, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott.[6] This petition received national attention in many publications such as Newsweek,[7] CNN,[8] People[9] and Time magazine.[10]
On June 10, 2020 the Confederate soldier statues were beheaded by sledgehammer and one was toppled by Black Lives Matter rioters as the Police Department watched.[11] A brass band played.[12] One protester, Chris Green, was hit by the falling statue and sustained life-threatening injuries while standing near other people below it.[13]
On July 28, 2020, the Portsmouth City Council voted unanimously to remove the monument. On August 26, 2020, crews officially began removing the monument from Olde Towne and moving it to a undisclosed storage area.[14] The monument has since been removed.