Leesburg March Off After Confederate Group Asks For Statue Back

LEESBURG, VA —Loudoun clergy and faith leaders canceled a planned march in downtown Leesburg, scheduled for Sunday evening, after the Loudoun Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy asked the county to return their statue of a Confederate soldier.

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisor had been planning to consider removal of the statue, which sits on the grounds of the Loudoun County Courthouse at the corner of King Street and E. Market Street.

The march, “Walking for Black Lives,” was scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Loudoun County Courthouse in front of the Confederate soldier statue and was to conclude at the Orion Anderson Memorial on Harrison Street at the W&OD Trail.

The town of Leesburg released a statement Friday from the event organizers announcing the cancellation of Sunday's march.

"Since Loudoun County is moving forward to legally remove the statue and the Daughters of the Confederacy has asked for the statue back the Loudoun Clergy and Faith Leaders Group has decided to cancel the July 5th silent walk," the march organizers said Friday in the statement. "We continue to support justice and black lives matter and will determine a future event in the near future to help in cause of justice and countering systemic racism."

Under a Virginia law that took effect Wednesday, localities in Virginia can decide whether to remove Confederate statues.

Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall previously told WTOP that she planned to ask the board on July 7 to hold a public hearing on the future of the monument. In response to the United Daughters of the Confederacy's request, Randall said she will ask the board to allow the group to remove its statue.

“We don’t know yet how that’s going to look, what day, the cost of removing it, but we know that they have every right to take it back,” Randall told WTOP.

In the early 1900s, the Loudoun Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy selected sculptor Frederick William Sievers to construct the monument in honor of the Confederacy. The statue of the Confederate soldier at the courthouse was unveiled on May 28, 1908.