BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) – A Confederate soldier monument in Arkansas will be removed from a public space and relocated to a private park, according to a Monday announcement.
The statue is owned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and has been on Bentonville’s downtown square since 1908 in an agreement with Benton County, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
The Arkansas Division United Daughters of the Confederacy agreed to move the statue after conversations with community leaders, according to the group’s press release.
Sheree Miller is a member of Shame of Bentonville, a group that protested for the monument’s removal.
“This is wonderful news,” she said. “It means to me when my grandchildren and relatives come to Bentonville that I can take them to the Square without being ashamed.”
The statue is of a soldier, according to the 1996 National Register of Historical Places registration form for the monument. It was vandalized last year.
The Daughters of the Confederacy, the Benton County Historical Society and other community members decided to relocate the monument to “James H. Berry Park,” in accordance to an agreement with the UDC and the Historical Society, the release said. The relocation will begin in August.
“We appreciate the spirit of this decision of the UDC, and we are prepared to play an important role in preserving the monument in an appropriate way to commemorate Governor Berry as well as our State and county history,” said Leah Whitehead, chairwoman of the historical society.
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