Baltimore swiftly removes Confederate monuments in the dead of night

Crews in Baltimore worked through the night to remove four Confederate monuments after the city council approved the plan Monday evening, the Baltimore Sun reports.

"They needed to come down. My concern is for the safety and security of our people," said Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in the wake of violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. Pugh's predecessor, former Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, had introduced a commission to review Baltimore's Confederate statues in June 2015.

"Way to be, Baltimore, sneaky style, and do it in the middle of the night," observed one late night passerby to the Baltimore Sun.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Pugh suggested the statues might be moved to Confederate cemeteries in other parts of Maryland, The New York Times reports.

Although Maryland sided with the Union in the Civil War, 22,000 of its residents fought for the Confederacy, The Guardian reports. In addition to a statue of Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, the city removed its Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Confederate Women's Monument, and Roger B. Taney Monument between 11:30 p.m. Tuesday and 5:30 a.m. Wednesday.