Crews may have found 1887 time capsule in Robert E. Lee statue pedestal

RICHMOND, Va. - Crews attempting to eliminate the platform where a sculpture of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee overshadowed Richmond for over a century accept they've figured out an opportunity case that was covered there in 1887.

The huge bronze equestrian sculpture of Lee, raised in 1890, was brought down in September, over a year later Gov. Ralph Northam requested its evacuation later fights over prejudice and police severity emitted the nation over after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The day later the sculpture was eliminated, work groups went through over 12 hours looking for the time container in the 40-foot-tall platform, however couldn't find it.
On Friday, Northam reported that teams observed the highest point of a square box installed in a 2,000-pound rock block. It was situated around 20 feet off the ground in the principle segment of the platform, not in its base. Laborers who looked for it in September accepted it was tucked inside or under a foundation of the platform.

"It seems as though it is (the time container)," said Clark Mercer, Northam's head of staff. "We're trusting it hasn't been harmed by water throughout the last 100 or more years."

By late Friday evening, laborers had brought down a huge piece of stone containing the crate to the ground and were wanting to carry it to the state Department of Historic Resources to be opened at some point one week from now. Mercer said the container was as yet encased in rock and should be ousted and X-rayed before authorities can be sure it is the time case.
A paper article from 1887 recommends the container contains Civil War memorabilia and a "image of Lincoln lying in his casket," in spite of the fact that students of history accept it's dicey the image is a genuine photo, which would be uncommon and significant.
Records from the Library of Virginia recommend that 37 Richmond occupants, associations and organizations contributed around 60 items to the container, a significant number of which are accepted to be identified with the Confederacy.
The Lee sculpture, which turned into an image of racial

Treachery, was one of five Confederate recognitions

Along Richmond's Monument Avenue and the

One in particular that had a place with the state. The four

City-possessed sculptures were brought down in 2020,

However, the Lee sculpture expulsion was impeded by two

Claims until a decision from the Supreme Court

Of Virginia in September made room for it to

Be brought down.

Northam declared recently that the huge platform would be taken out, an inversion from September, when the lead representative said the platform would remain set up so its future could be dictated by a local area driven work to reconsider Monument Avenue.

Later Floyd's homicide in 2020, the Lee sculpture turned into a point of convergence of the racial equity development in Richmond. From that point forward, the platform takes care of been in spray painting, some of it profane and quite a bit of it decrying the police. A few activists needed to see it stay set up as a work of dissent workmanship.