Davis statue removed on anniversary of arrest

By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer

On May 10, 1865, Union forces captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis. One hundred and fifty-two years later to the day, at midnight on the 10th of May 2017, Mayor Mitch Landrieu ordered the cranes to lift away the monument to Davis on the Mid-City neutral ground on the street named until recently in his honor.

As local historian Ronald Walton noted, “He [Landrieu] waited weeks to remove it, after toying with those who oppose his scheme to do it on this day. I must believe that was intentional, and that he intends to breed animosity amongst the residents of our city toward each other.”

Monument critic Mike Hobbs countered on May 11 after the statue was removed, noting that Davis was first discovered by Union troops disguised in women’s clothing, “152 years and 1 day ago Jefferson Davis slithered like a coward from Irwinville, Georgia dressed in drag with hopes that Union forces wouldn’t find him. So I have a question for all of you who support the theory of honoring Jefferson Davis. Which restroom should he be allowed to use?”

Protesters on both sides of the issue maintained a vigil until the statue was taken away in the early hours of May 11. Defen-ders of the monument noted the New Orleans connection to the former Confederate President. Jefferson Davis died during a visit to a home of Associate La. Supreme Court Justice Charles Fenner in the Garden District on December 6, 1889.

Davis lay in state in the Howard building, (now the Louisiana Civil War Museum near Lee Circle). His funeral was the largest in the South’s history, and for a brief time Jefferson Davis was entombed in Metairie Cemetery—before his remains were transferred to Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.

Jefferson Davis’ citizenship was restored by U.S. President Jimmy Carter in 1978, in what was called (somewhat prematurely), “the last act of reconciliation of the Civil War.”

The local Jefferson Davis Monument was dedicated February 22, 1911 at the corner of Jeff Davis Parkway and Canal Street. Carved by sculptor Edward Valentine, the statue lasted in that location just over 106 years until its removal last week.

Last year, Mayor Landrieu proposed renaming the street “Dr. Norman C. Francis Parkway,” as it ends near Xavier University, the college the prominent African–American educator built into a national HBCU powerhouse.

Landrieu said last week that no other landmark changes will be contemplated until the remaining two monuments to Robert E. Lee and P.G.T. Beauregard are removed.◊