Confederate monument at center of protests in Chatham County taken down
The embattled Confederate monument in downtown Pittsboro came down early Wednesday morning after standing outside the historic courthouse for 112 years, Chatham County officials said.
As concerns for public safety grew and the costs of protecting the statue have mounted, officials decided to remove it, according to a county spokeswoman. The county has spent more than $140,000 on security measures, from March 18 to Nov. 18, Dudley said.
“Over the past three months, protests continued to escalate week by week, growing larger and more violent,” Kara Dudley said in a news release, referring to the protests that happen nearly every Saturday.
The monument was removed overnight because it was near two busy highways, she said Wednesday morning, and would minimize the effects on morning traffic.
As crews carefully removed the bronze statue at 1:45 a.m., a process that took at least three hours, onlookers applauded and cheered.
At 10:46 p.m. Chatham County announced crews were “working to safely and respectfully dismantle the Confederate monument, which includes the statue and pedestal.”
Word started spreading to both supporters and opponents of the statue, and a crowd of about 75 people gathered to watch, many staying as temperatures grew cold and rain fell.
Sandra Day of Moncure got out of bed, threw on sneakers and a heavy coat and drove to Pittsboro to witness the removal of the statue that has been in the center of town since Aug. 23, 1907. The Chatham County native has attended several statue protests.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be standing here,” said Day, who is black. “I wanted to see it for myself.”
Last week, a temporary restraining order expired, and a Superior Court judge lifted an injunction to allow the county to remove the statue from the courthouse square, The News & Observer reported. County commissioners gave County Manager Dan LaMontagne authority to take necessary action to remove it.
Tuesday night cranes flanked the monument and workers with Greensboro-based Guy M. Turner Inc., began wrapping yellow straps around the likeness of the soldier to remove it. They wrapped the statue in a cage structure, and when it was removed, the cage went with it.
A half-dozen monument supporters stood in the crowd, holding Confederate flags. They declined to talk to reporters.
Wednesday, the county said the statue and pedestal would be stored in a warehouse in Greensboro, where Guy M. Turner Inc.’s business is located. The county said it cost about $44,000 to remove the statue and pedestal — coming from county funds — and will cost $300 a month to store it.
It will remain there “until such time as the Winnie Davis Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) finds a more appropriate location to place them.”
Thomas Jones, who has lived in Chatham County since 2011, stopped to watch about 10:15 p.m., while returning home from the grocery store.
He said he has followed the debate over Confederate statues locally and across the country and described himself as being in a “unique position.” His great-grandmother was in the Daughters of the Confederacy, and he is a military veteran.
“We as a society have to reconcile, at what point does the harm to a few outweigh the harm to many more,” Jones said. “I don’t think this is about taking down a monument to eradicate hate. It’s about taking down the pain that symbolizes these monuments. That pain exists on both sides. ... I think this will help everyone take the next step forward.”
Fight to remove statue
The West Chatham Branch of the NAACP and Chatham for All have worked for years to have the statue removed.
Debate has surrounded the monument and whether it was a gift to the county — making it a public monument protected under a 2015 state law — or a private monument owned by the Winnie Davis Chapter of the N.C. United Daughters of the Confederacy. That would allow it be removed.
Superior Court judge Susan Bray said last week that the UDC’s lawyers didn’t prove there would be “irreparable harm” if the monument were removed, pending a decision about whether the county is allowed to do that under state law, The N&O reported.
The county attorney has said the 1907 license that allowed the UDC to erect the monument can be revoked. The license does not say whether the monument is a gift but leaves it “in the care and keeping of the said Daughters of the Confederacy.”
On Aug. 19, the Chatham County commissioners voted to give the group an opportunity to come up with a plan for the statue. The deadline was Oct. 1, with a Nov. 1 deadline for the county to take action if it wasn’t removed by the UDC.
The debate has brought local and out-of-state statue supporters and opponents to Pittsboro every Saturday since the board’s decision.
This past weekend, police arrested a dozen people after fights broke out between demonstrators. Charges included inciting a riot and simple assault.
Bray scheduled a hearing for Dec. 2 to hear the county’s motion about dismissing the UDC’s lawsuit.
Second statue removal
The removal of the statue Tuesday was relatively subdued, compared to the previous gatherings surrounding the statue.
And it was a stark contrast to the removal of the Silent Sam Confederate statue on UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus, which was toppled by protesters in August 2018.
That statue also generated angry protests and debate, but university officials said the 2015 law prevented them from removing or altering it.
Protesters took the matter into their own hands.
A few months later, then-UNC Chancellor Carol Folt ordered the pedestal that once held the statue be removed Jan. 14 as she simultaneously announced her resignation. Crews removed it shortly after 1 a.m. Jan. 15, and the space on McCorkle Place has remained vacant since.
The statue and its remains are in an undisclosed location in Chapel Hill as a committee of the UNC System Board of Governors seeks a home for it, The N&O reported in September.
“The last several months have been a painful time for Chatham County,” said Chatham County Board of Commissioners Chair Mike Dasher in a news release Wednesday morning. “We’ve experienced high emotions, division and even violence which have impacted residents, businesses and the overall feel of our community.
“What’s clear now is that the overwhelming majority of our residents are eager to move forward.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2019 at 10:59 PM.