Fort Monroe removes letters honoring Confederate president

FORT MONROE, Va. — Crews have begun to remove lettering that honors Confederate President Jefferson Davis at Virginia’s Fort Monroe National Monument.

The Daily Press reports that the letters were being taken down Friday from their place on arch at the former military base, which is in Hampton and overlooks the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The letters spelled “Jefferson Davis Memorial Park.”

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By Lisa Vernon Sparks, (Hampton, Va.) Daily Press via the AP

The United Daughters of the Confederacy paid the U.S. Army to build the arch in 1956. Gov. Ralph Northam originally called for taking down the entire archway before agreeing to remove only the letters.

They will be placed in in a museum at the fort. Davis had been imprisoned for treason at the fort following the Civil War.

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