By Debbie Hall
The J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust, Inc., has filed an application with the City of Richmond to relocate the statue of Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart to his native Patrick County.
If the application is approved, the statue will be erected at Laurel Hill Farm, Stuart’s birthplace in Ararat, according to Ronnie Haynes, president of the trust.
Haynes said the trust, a private non-profit 501c3 organization, filed an application to acquire the statue after it was removed from Monument Avenue in Richmond.
Under a new monument law which went into effect on July 1, localities may relocate, remove or contextualize Confederate monuments within their communities.
Laurel Hill Farm “will be a proper place for the statue and pedestal historically, and it will be protected from the activities we have witnessed the last few weeks in Richmond, as it is on private land,” according to an online social media page.
A private 75-acre park along the Virginia/North Carolina state line, Laurel Hill Farm is listed on the Virginia Landmarks and National Register of Historic Places.
According to online reports, the site is interpreted with history about the antebellum time when Stuart’s family lived there, including interpretation about the slaves that lived on the property. There are five interpretive signs about Stuart’s time in the War Between The States, written by historian Robert J. Trout. A Civil War Encampment is held each October at the site.
Historian Thomas D. Perry also wrote a history of the property titled, “The Dear Old Hills of Patrick:”
The statue currently is owned by the City of Richmond, Haynes said, and added that one of Stuart’s descendants, J.E.B. Stuart V, is working with the trust on the relocation project.
A social media post stated the group has “little financial means,” and as such, also calls on “the City of Richmond to pay for cleaning the statue and pedestal, and the process of taking down the statue as they are calling for it to be taken down.”
The post further calls “on the City of Richmond, J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace, Patrick County government, and government of the Commonwealth of Virginia to begin discussions to save this priceless piece of art and history and bring it the place that J. E. B. Stuart called ‘the dear old hills of Patrick.’”
Plans to load the statue transport and set it back up are in the works, “and should not cause any significant extra expense, as we will provide transportation,” the post stated.
Haynes said “We have the means to get it here, get it loaded and unloaded. I don’t know about the details.”
However, the trust has “been in contact with local truck drivers” to transport the statue and pedestal, according to online reports, and also asks “Virginia and Richmond to arrange permits or any necessary agreements that will a smooth transfer, including protection for the statue and vehicles involved in moving the statue and pedestal from Richmond to Ararat.”
A social media post also asks the “J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace to create an endowment fund for maintenance and protection of the statue in the future. I call on all interested parties to donate to this fund to make sure this statue never has to be moved or damaged again.”
If the application is successful, the post encourages the use of “security cameras and systems to protect the statue and pedestal along with proper nighttime lighting, so this magnificent piece of art and history can make a statement at the place where Stuart was born.”
Haynes said he has heard that other groups also have expressed an interest in the statue. While he is not privy to detailed information about those requests, “we’ve done all we can.”
James Ewell Brown Stuart was born in Ararat, Patrick County, Virginia, on his parent’s 1,500 acre farm on February 6, 1833. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1854 and served seven years in the United States Army, rising to the rank of Captain, according to online information.
Stuart resigned in May 1861 and offered his sword to his home state of Virginia. He rose in rank to Major General commanding all the mounted arm, the Cavalry Division of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, until his death on May 12, 1864. He is buried in Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery, according to an online post.
According to a social media post by Lt. F. C. Frazier Camp #668, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Frederick Moynihan from New York was the sculptor of the Stuart statue. The Richmond City Council in 1875 passed a resolution to erect a statue to Stuart.
The Stuart Monument Association worked many years to raise the funds for the statue which cost more than $30,000. The final decision was to place the statue not far from where Stuart died, and the church that held his funeral service.
The unveiling was on May 30, 1907. It was Memorial Day and the beginning of the United Confederate Veterans reunion. According to an article in the July 1907 issue of the Confederate Veteran: “The dedication of the J.E.B. Stuart monument caused an outpour of people that must have gratified those who were most intimate with the wonderful cavalryman and a man who was so lighthearted and gay, and yet in whose life there were such deep and undying Christian virtues.”
The Stuart-Mosby Historical Society raised funds to conserve the statue, and the conservator completed the work in May 2016, according to online reports.
Richmond City Council is to rule on the application within 60-days, Haynes said.
