The Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery

Slated for removal before the New Year, you may soon only be able to see this memorial in photographs.

Dedicated in 1914, the 32-foot Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery was designed and sculpted by Moses J. Ezekiel (1844-1917), the first Jewish graduate of the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington. Ezekiel fought alongside his fellow cadets at the Battle of New Market, which is depicted in the film Field of Lost Shoes (2014). Until recently, nearly every U.S. president since Woodrow Wilson has sent a funeral wreath to be laid at the memorial, as a gesture of reconciliation and respect for the Confederate veterans buried there. After 109 years, it is slated to be removed. There are 32 bronze figures, including soldiers and civilians and two black slaves, one wearing a uniform accompanying his master to war. It is topped with a female statue representing the South. An inscription on the north face reads:

“Not for fame or reward, not for place or for rank, not lured by ambition, or goaded by necessity, but in simple obedience to duty as they understood it, these men suffered all, sacrificed all, dared all–and died.”

Randolph Harrison

Moses Ezekiel is buried nearby, as well as 264 other Confederate veterans. The memorial is supposed to be removed before the New Year. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin offered to move it to the New Market Battlefield, but its ultimate fate is unclear.