The attack on normalcy, traditions, and history in America intensified in 2020 with Covid-19 lockdowns and the riots catalyzed by the death of George Floyd. When destruction then turned under the Congressional Naming Commission to the icons associated with the Confederacy of the Civil War period, the Reconciliation Monument in Arlington Cemetery came into the crosshairs. It was removed from Arlington on Dec. 16, 2023, despite longstanding traditions and laws against desecrating gravesites. The Reconciliation Monument was the last work of the sculptor Moses Ezekiel, and he chose the monument’s location as his burial ground, making the monument his headstone.
Now with the Trump administration’s priority to revive Americans’ appreciation of their heritage, this somewhat obscure monument is in the spotlight. And for good reason, because the Reconciliation Monument can serve as the catalyst and spiritual portal that bring America back to its origin in greatness as the nation of “e pluribus unum” — meaning one out of many.
In a recent post on X, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reiterated that the reinstatement of the 1914 Reconciliation Monument, which celebrates the bringing together of the South and the North after decades of post-Civil War division, was important because it fosters the unity of America, and its removal by “woke lemmings” in 2023 was inconsistent with honesty and openness about the past. The secretary added: “Unlike the Left, we don’t believe in erasing American history — we honor it.” The Reconciliation Monument is projected to be restored to Arlington in 2027.
Most Americans may not realize the full cultural and spiritual significance of restoring this monument to its rightful place in Arlington Cemetery. In this time of intense spiritual warfare against traditional values and constitutional America, we certainly need to preserve and restore historical monuments. But we also need to go on the offense and uphold the American values that inspired these great markers of history. And the Reconciliation Monument compels such action better than any other monument in Arlington and beyond.
History and Meaning of the Monument
The Reconciliation Monument, called by some the Confederate Monument, displays four cinerary urns (one for each year of the Civil War), a frieze of 14 shields representing the 11 Confederate states and the border states of Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, and 32 life-sized action figures. Most prominent is a Romanesque woman in a flowing gown with a plow and a pruning hook. Lower on the base is inscribed Isaiah 2:4: “They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.” Also prominent are two black figures: an enslaved man following his white owner to war and an enslaved woman depicted as a “mammy” holding a white officer’s child. While critics can say that such portrayal romanticizes slavery, these figures are shown as enslaved individuals in subservient roles, reflecting an historically accurate view of slavery in America at that time.
More than any other monument in Arlington Cemetery, the Reconciliation Monument captures the essence of what makes America great: the willingness to see our faults, forgiving our transgressors, the quest for unity, and the celebration of beauty and freedom. Also noteworthy is that while some have called it the Christmas Monument because of the Christian values it represents, the Reconciliation Monument was conceived, designed, and executed by the distinguished Jewish sculptor Ezekiel, who had served in the Civil War. In the foremost rank of American sculptors, Ezekiel made the ideals of the spiritual and godly, the Greek sense of beauty, and the American outlook of freedom uniquely visible through his sculptural works.
The Reconciliation Monument has always been one of the most beautiful tributes in Arlington Cemetery. So impressive is the monument that it requires time and many visits to fully digest the symbolism and the nuances of meaning of the many panels in its decorative band-frieze.
The inspiration for the Reconciliation Monument started with President William McKinley, the 25th president. McKinley had served on the Union side in the Civil War and was troubled by lingering division between the North and the South for decades after the war was over. However, as president during the Spanish American War in 1898, McKinley witnessed the impressive contribution that enlistees and officers from the South made. These Southerners, who fought valiantly side by side with soldiers from the North, enabled a surprisingly swift victory in less than four months.
McKinley then envisioned a reconciliation monument as a way of celebrating this success of a reunified nation — an event that also marked the arrival of the United States as a leading power in the world. The monument’s theme of respect and reconciliation between the northern and southern states was also supported by the next three presidents (two Republicans and one Democrat) — Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson. Wilson, who unveiled the monument in Arlington Cemetery in 1914, proclaimed that “the monument represented the best of America — a spirit of reconciliation, democracy, freedom, heroism and patriotism.” Not only did they believe in the importance of reconciliation, but every president thereafter — Democrat and Republican — up until Barack Obama, agreed and continued the tradition by laying a wreath at the foot of the monument every Memorial Day.
America’s Spiritual Battle
Today, America is in the midst of intense spiritual warfare against traditional values and its constitutional government — truly a battle for the nation’s survival. The battle over the Reconciliation Monument has been a lightning rod, revealing how good and evil operate, and is instructive in discerning what is good from what is evil.
People and movements that pursue reconciliation, forgiveness, unity based on truth, honesty, morality, transparency, goodwill, beauty, merit, law and order, and respect for the past can be trusted. Those who foster vice, secrecy, divisiveness, hatred, dishonesty, destruction, lawlessness, fear, and rewriting of history cannot be trusted. The book of Isaiah that Ezekiel quoted is a promise of God’s faithfulness, love, and compassion. Its removal marked a deconsecration of Arlington’s hallowed ground. Its restoration is a triumph.
The George Floyd riots catalyzed the removal of some 260 historic monuments and statues across America. Most will probably never be restored.
So, it is hugely significant that Hegseth has taken a hard stand in the restoration of the Reconciliation Monument. Being one of America’s most important monuments with powerful symbolic and spiritual significance, such an accomplishment is a vital key to an important door for America’s spiritual revival.