A statue of the Confederate general Albert Pike that was pulled down and set ablaze in Washington, D.C. in June 2020 during the Black Lives Matter movement has been renovated and reinstalled in Judiciary Square. The reinstallation on Saturday was a follow-through of an earlier National Park Service announcement that the federal government intended to restore the statue, which it says had been damaged in "riots."
The monument to Pike was first erected in 1901, but has long been a contentious issue within the nation's capital.
The Pike statue is the only monument within Washington, D.C. to honor a Confederate general – but it does not mention his military history. Pike, who was a Freemason and was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson, has also been identified by historians as possibly having been involved with the development of the Ku Klux Klan in the period after the Civil War.
The plaque at the base of the statue, which was originally mounted by the Freemasons, calls Pike an "author, poet, scholar, soldier, jurist, orator, philanthropist and philosopher."
Members of the D.C. Council, the district's legislature, have been calling for the statue's removal since 1992.
In an unsigned statement sent to NPR on Monday, the National Park Service wrote: "The National Park Service announced on Aug. 4, 2025 that it will restore and reinstall the bronze statue of Albert Pike, which was damaged and vandalized during the Black Lives Matter riots in June 2020. The restoration aligns with federal responsibilities under historic-preservation law and recent executive orders to beautify the nation's capital and restore pre-existing statues."
In a statement released Monday, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) objected to the statue's reinstallation, calling it "an affront to the mostly Black and Brown residents of the District of Columbia and offensive to members of the military who serve honorably."
"Pike himself served dishonorably. He took up arms against the United States, misappropriated funds, and was ultimately captured and imprisoned by his own troops," Norton continued. "He resigned in disgrace after committing a war crime and dishonoring even his own Confederate military service. Confederate statues should be placed in museums as historical artifacts, not remain in parks or other locations that imply honor. Pike represents the worst of the Confederacy and has no claim to be memorialized in the Nation's capital." In August, Norton introduced a bill to remove the Pike statue permanently.
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