Confederate monument dismantled after sparking debate, will be moved to veterans park

A Confederate monument that caused a stir in a North Carolina town has been dismantled and put in storage until it can be moved to a different location. 

The Town of Edenton had been planning to remove the monument from a popular spot in the business district for the past three years. It dismantled the monument on Saturday. 

It was only after the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the move that the town decided to act.

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Mayor W. Hackney High Jr. told local news outlet WAVY the monument will be reinstated at the town's Veterans Memorial Park. 

Edenton established a Human Relations Commission in 2020 to study the monument issue and propose recommendations. 

In a community letter posted on Facebook, the mayor said the debate over the monument "has been deeply emotional and challenging for the Town Council and many of our citizens."

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The council eventually recommended relocating the 26-foot statue.  

High asked the community to find "common ground" and called out those who said officials were "erasing history." 

"That is a misinformed view," he wrote. "The monument is not being removed - it is being relocated. In doing so, we are not erasing history."

The memorial, erected in 1909, originally stood in front of the Old Colonial Courthouse, according to several sources. It was built to honor the Confederate dead of Chowan County.

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In the early 1960s, it was relocated to the prominent downtown waterfront spot.

In related news, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in August that the Reconciliation Monument, a Confederate memorial, will be returning to Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington, D.C. 

"I'm proud to announce that Moses Ezekiel's beautiful and historic sculpture - often referred to as 'The Reconciliation Monument' - will be rightfully returned to Arlington National Cemetery near his burial site," Hegseth wrote on X. 

Installations honoring Confederate figures were moved into a Defense Department storage facility in Virginia in 2023 after a push by the Pentagon.

Fox News Digital reached out to the mayor and the town of Edenton for comment.