Sculpted in bronze by French artist Antonin Mercie and based on an Aldabert Volck lithograph of Lee on his horse, this is the statue that once stood on Monument Avenue and honored the traitor Robert E. Lee, who deserted his post with the United States Army when Virginia seceded from the Union in April 1861. Lee instead took a Commission in the Confederate Army in defense of the power of states to permit slavery.
Lee, a prominent Virginian, opposed secession but resigned the US Army Commission he earned at West Point to avoid fighting against his home state. He commanded Confederate forces in western Virginia and helped organize coastal defenses in Georgia and South Carolina before taking command of the Army of Northern Virginia in 1862. Lee has been praised as a strong battlefield tactician and commander but in fact proved ineffective at building an effective staff and issuing clear orders. His insistence on offensive operations cost the Confederacy casualties they could not afford to lose. He focused too narrowly on defending Virginia and contributed little to a broader strategy for defending the entire Confederacy and winning the war.
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