National Park Service to reinstall Confederate statue in D.C.

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – The National Park Service announced it will restore and put back on display a statue of Confederate General Albert Pike in Washington, D.C. 

Demonstrators took down that statue during protests in 2020 that followed the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.

In a press release, the Park Service said it’s restoring the statue to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive orders calling for the restoration of truth and sanity to American history and to make the District of Columbia safe and beautiful. 

Pike was a Confederate brigadier general and a senior leader of the Freemasons. His was the only statue of a Confederate leader in Washington, D.C. 

“I’ve long believed Confederate statues should be placed in museums as historical artifacts, not remain in parks and locations that imply honor,” said Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), in a statement.  “A statue honoring a racist and a traitor has no place on the streets of D.C.”

The Trump administration has also moved to restore names of U.S. military bases changed in the wake of the 2020 protests. 

President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth celebrated the restoration of Fort Bragg in North Carolina in June. The base was originally named after Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general. 

The Biden administration changed it to Fort Liberty in 2023 but in February, Hegseth announced the name would be changed back to Bragg, after another soldier with the same name, Army Private First Class Roland Bragg, who fought in World War II. 

In the same way, the Trump administration also restored the names of Fort Hill, Fort Pickett, Fort Lee, Fort Gordon, Fort Hood, Fort Polk and Fort Rucker. 

The National Park Service said the statue in D.C. should be back up in October.