Contractors removed three Confederate statues from Virginia’s Capitol Square on Friday under a line item written into the state budget passed by the General Assembly in June.
Workers took down the statue of Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, which had stood on the grounds since 1875. Crews also took down a statue of Confederate Army surgeon Dr. Hunter Holmes McGuire. It went up in 1904. The third depicted William “Extra Billy” Smith, a Confederate general who twice served as Virginia governor and dated to 1906.
Budget Item 71 #1C directed the Department of General Services to remove every Confederate monument and memorial on the square, a spokesperson for the agency said. The money came with it. Lawmakers put $1.8 million toward the work in the fiscal 2027-28 budget, which took effect July 1.
The statues came down months after a standalone removal bill failed. Former state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) introduced SB636 during the 2026 session. It cleared the Senate on a party-line vote, then stalled in the House Appropriations Committee before lawmakers folded the language into the budget.
Ebbin, who left the legislature to join Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration, said the removal changed who the state honors rather than the historical record.
“This doesn’t change the history of the Civil War,” the Alexandria Democrat said. “It changes who we choose to venerate on the Capitol lawn.”
State Sen. Mike Jones (D-Richmond) credited the governor’s administration with finishing a push he dated to 2018.
“I’m glad that our current administration, Governor Spanberger, that they’re ensuring that we continue what we began some years ago,” Jones said.
Spanberger campaigned as a moderate before signing 10 executive orders on her first day in office. In April, the former congresswoman signed legislation stripping tax exemptions from Confederate-linked organizations and ending renewal of specialty license plates featuring Robert E. Lee.
The budget language directed that the statues be given to the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, whose chief executive said they would be moved to battlefield sites in the Shenandoah Valley.
“Preservation is more about the future than the past, and ensuring the preservation of the Capitol Square monuments is a part of that clear vision,” CEO David Walker said.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) said last week at a Boston campaign event that “the Confederacy is still alive and well” and that “that’s all MAGA is.”
The Department of General Services said the three pedestals could take up to a week to remove and that no replacements are planned.
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