Madison Landmarks Commission Denies Request To Remove Confederate Monument

In a 3-1 vote, Madison’s Landmarks Commission denied an application to remove a Confederate monument in a city cemetery Monday. The large stone monument lists 140 names of Confederate soldiers buried in a section of the Forest Hill Cemetery known as Confederate Rest.

The common council voted to remove the large stone monument in April. But according to Landmarks Commission Chairman Stu Levitan, the commission needed to weigh in with their own vote on the removal because the entire cemetery is a designated landmark. He said it’s not within the commission’s authority to interpret the meaning of the stone.

“The landmarks commission’s vote was not to endorse the large grave marker of the Confederate soldiers, it was not to endorse slavery or secession or anything related to that,” Levitan said. “Our vote was purely in the context of the historic preservation ordinance that we have been charged with interpreting.”

He said the commission’s decision will likely be appealed to the Madison Common Council, which will be able determine if it is in the public interest to keep in the cemetery.

“If I were on the common council, I would vote to overturn the landmarks commission,” Levitan said.

The council will need a simple majority to overturn the commission’s decision.

Confederate Rest is the northernmost Confederate cemetery in the country, Levitan said. The soldiers were buried there in 1862, and the stone monument was installed in 1906 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

If the monument is removed, the commission suggests that it be given to the Wisconsin Veterans Museum or the State Historical Society. According to Levitan, the commission would also like to install a sign in Confederate Rest that explains the historical context of the site.

The public weighed in on the issue in January.