Richmond removes second Confederate statue as crowd cheers
EDS NOTE: OBSCENITY - A passerby walks past the pedestal where the statue of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson was removed on Monument Avenue, Thursday July 2, 2020, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Work crews have removed a second Confederate statue in Richmond, a monument to Navy officer and scientist Matthew Fontaine Maury.
A crowd cheered Thursday morning as a crane pulled a statue of Maury from its base, a day after crews removed a statue of Gen. Stonewall Jackson on an order from Mayor Levar Stoney to remove all Confederate statues on city land.
The Maury statue, unveiled in 1929, depicts Maury seated in a chair with a large globe above him. It was the last of five Confederate monuments erected on Richmond's famed Monument Avenue
Maury was a leader in the fields of naval meteorology and navigation. He headed the coast, harbor and river defenses for the Confederate Navy.
Stoney ordered the removal of the statues Wednesday after more than a month of protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Last month, Gov. Ralph Northam ordered the removal of Richmond's most prominent Confederate statue — a monument to Gen. Robert E. Lee on state land — but the removal has been blocked by a lawsuit.