Confederate statue taken down hours after Anson County leaders vote for removal

ANSON COUNTY, N.C. — A Confederate statue in front of the Anson County courthouse has been taken down hours after county leaders voted to remove it.

It was taken down sometime Tuesday night, but it is not known exactly when it happened.

County commissioners voted Tuesday night to remove the statue of the Confederate soldier that had been there since 1906.

Crews removed that statue as well as another Confederate statue in the area early Wednesday morning.

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“This gives the county a new outlook, a new perspective and a whole new identity,” resident John Polk said.

The move comes a day after the Confederate statue “Fame” was removed from downtown Salisbury after more than 100 years.

Channel 9 was there Monday night into Tuesday morning, and where you would normally see the statue of an angel carrying a Confederate soldier, was just a patch of land after the statue and its base were removed.

City leaders worked with the United Daughters of the Confederacy to figure out the best plan for the statue after the police chief said it was a threat to public safety. There were numerous protests and demonstrations in recent years calling for the statue’s removal.

Monument outside Memorial Stadium in Charlotte removed

Without warning and without ceremony, a Confederate monument has been removed in Charlotte. It sat outside Memorial Stadium on North Kings Drive for more than 90 years.

It used to be in a plexiglass box, which was empty on Wednesday.

We asked county leaders if the removal is temporary or permanent and they sent Channel 9 the following statement:

“The Confederate monument previously located on North Kings Drive between the Grady Cole Center and Memorial Stadium has been removed and placed in storage by the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department. Park and Rec removed it at the direction of the Board of County Commissioners.”

The monument was put in a plexiglass box in 2015 because it was vandalized several times. The county did not remove it then because of a state law protecting historic landmarks.

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