Confederate Gen. Albert Pike, a self-educated lawyer from Arkansas, will return to the place he once occupied in Washington, D.C.
A National Park Service news release said on Monday that the statue “which was toppled and vandalized during riots in June 2020” will be back in place sometime in October.
Sitework to repair the damaged plinth will begin soon.
“The restoration aligns with federal responsibilities under historic preservation law as well as recent executive orders to beautify the nation’s capital and re-instate pre-existing statues,” the release said.
National Park Service announces it will restore, reinstate statue honoring Confederate General Albert Pike https://t.co/0KTF5GYqP8 pic.twitter.com/Qi1M578n9y
— New York Post (@nypost) August 5, 2025
Congress authorized the statue in 1898. It was dedicated in 1901, honoring Pike for more than three decades of serving as the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient Rite of Scottish Freemasonry.
The statue has been in storage since it was toppled and is being restored by the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Training Center.
The monument in Judiciary Square was the only outdoor statue of a Confederate General in the District of Columbia when it was torn down in the rioting that followed the 2020 death of George Floyd, according to CBS.
Is this a good move by the National Park Service?
D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat, registered her disapproval, according to WUSA-TV.
Originally erected in 1901, the Albert Pike Memorial was damaged by vandals and removed in 2020. The bronze statue is being repaired and will be returned to its stone base this fall. Learn more at https://t.co/GT9OM5QKQL pic.twitter.com/VaqjbNGOKL
— National Mall NPS (@NationalMallNPS) August 4, 2025
“I’ve long believed Confederate statues should be placed in museums as historical artifacts, not remain in locations that imply honor. President Trump’s longstanding determination to honor Confederate General Albert Pike by restoring and reinstalling the Pike statue is as indefensible as it is morally objectionable,” she said.
“I plan to reintroduce my bill which would permanently remove the statue of Pike and authorize the Secretary of the Interior to donate the statue to a museum or a similar entity. A statue honoring a racist and a traitor has no place on the streets of D.C,” she added.
BREAKING: 🚨 A statue of Confederate General Albert Pike that was TOPPLED and BURNED during protests in Washington, D.C. on June 19 2020, is set to be reinstalled. The monument’s return has sparked renewed debate amid ongoing discussions about historical memory and public space.… pic.twitter.com/VhNEsFj5T4
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) August 4, 2025
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas noted that Pike represented Native Americans in Oklahoma, then called Indian Territory, including taking their side in a case against the U.S. government.
The Confederacy made Pike a brigadier general in August 1861 and sent him to the Department of the Indian Territory to raise troops there. Pike began what would become a string of conflicts with his superiors over whether those troops should be used outside of the Indian Territory.
Pike and his Native American troops participated in the Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862, with indifferent results.
By July of 1862, Pike had left the Confederate Army in a dispute with a superior officer and returned to the practice of law.
Pike became a Mason in 1850 and began his association with the Scottish Rite of Masons in 1853. He devoted much of his time in those years to writing Masonic rituals. Pike died in 1891.
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