City To Consider Removal Of Madison Confederate Monument

The fate of a large stone monument to Confederate soldiers in Madison will be debated Tuesday.

A joint meeting of Madison’s Landmarks, Park, and Equal Opportunities Commissions will take public comment before deciding between removal or adding more context to the monument. The monument was erected in 1906 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, according to city documents.

In August, Madison Mayor Paul Soglin ordered the removal of a smaller plaque that called the Confederate soldiers buried nearby, “unsung heroes, far from their homes in Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas.”

Soglin’s order came after violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, which lead to the death of one woman. The protests were a reaction to the removal of a Confederate monument.

The Madison monument in question commemorates 140 soldiers buried in Forest Hill Cemetery who died at Camp Randall. It also has an inscription dedicated to a deceased caretaker, Alice Waterman.

“Erected in loving memory by United Daughters of the Confederacy to Mrs. Alice Waterman and ‘her boys,’” the monument reads.

Stuart Levitan, chairman of the city Landmarks Commission, said he expects a lot of people to come to the public hearing. Adding that city officials will make the best possible decision based on accurate information.

“It goes without saying that whatever we do we will disappoint, if not anger, some significant segment of the community,” he said.

The agenda for Tuesday’s meeting lists three options for the monument:

• Whether to take down and permanently remove the two monuments;
• Whether to leave the monuments in place but alter the messages; or
• Whether to leave one or both of the monuments, but erect a new monument that details the role these monuments play.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy did not respond to Wisconsin Public Radio’s requests for comment in time for publication.

About a week after the Charlottesville protests in August, the organization released a statement saying, in part, “To some, these memorial statues and markers are viewed as divisive and thus unworthy of being allowed to remain in public places. To others, they simply represent a memorial to our forefathers who fought bravely during four years of war. These memorial statues and markers have been a part of the Southern landscape for decades.”

Madison Parks Superintendent Eric Knepp said Forest Hill Cemetery is an important part of Madison’s history.

“We definitely have great respect from a landmarks perspective of doing it the right way, but we’re also really interested in having the community conversation to move us forward to make sure as a community we can feel good and proud about how we’re operating the cemetery,” Knepp said.

Soglin said he’s recommending the commissions leave the larger monument in place and add another monument clarifying the role of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Levitan said the city Landmarks Commission will make a decision no later than March.