A monument honoring Confederate soldiers who fought for the South during the Civil War was removed from the Talbot County courthouse lawn in Easton on Monday.
The “Talbot Boys” monument, a 13-foot bronze statue of a soldier holding a Confederate flag with the names of the Talbot County men who fought for the Confederacy engraved in its base, is believed to be the last Confederate statue on public grounds in Maryland.
A local group called Move the Monument Coalition posted a video of the statue’s removal on Facebook on Monday morning.
The statue has been the center of a countywide debate for decades.
Community activists and the NAACP have pushed for the removal of the statue, arguing that it is a symbol of white supremacy and promotes a legacy of racism. In May 2021, the ACLU – joined by the Maryland Office of the Public Defender and the Talbot County branch of the NAACP – sued Talbot County over the monument.
Other community members, including those who are part of a local coalition called Save the Talbot Boys, have argued to preserve the statue as a symbol of the county’s history.
Talbot County Council members voted in September to remove the monument, after voting to retain the monument in 2015.
The monument will be moved to Cross Keys Battlefield in Harrisonburg, Va.
