Overview
- Contractors took down three statues on Friday, August 28, and the last remaining monument was removed Saturday morning, August 30, completing the work on Capitol Square.
- The removals were directed by Budget Item 71 #1C after a standalone bill to remove the statues stalled in the House this year.
- State lawmakers allocated about $1.8 million in the fiscal 2027–28 budget to fund the removals and implementation work.
- The statues of Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, William “Extra Billy” Smith, and Dr. Hunter Holmes McGuire have been gifted to the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation for preservation and relocation to battlefield sites.
- Crews began dismantling the concrete pedestals after the statues came down, a process officials say could take up to a week, and there are currently no announced plans to replace the monuments on the Capitol grounds, a move that concludes a multi-year reassessment of Confederate commemoration in Richmond and is likely to prompt further political and public debate.