The National Park Service (NPS) announced Monday that the statue of Confederate General Albert Pike — torn down and burned during the 2020 George Floyd riots — will be reinstalled this October at its original location in Judiciary Square, Washington, D.C.
The restoration aligns with federal historic preservation laws and executive orders issued under President Donald Trump aimed at restoring monuments and national heritage.
“The restoration aligns with federal responsibilities under historic preservation law as well as recent executive orders to beautify the nation’s capital and re-instate pre-existing statues,” the NPS stated.
Background: Statue Toppled in 2020
The statue, erected in 1901 under Congressional authorization, honored Albert Pike primarily for his three-decade service as Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, not for his brief Confederate military service.
Nonetheless, Pike’s statue was the only outdoor Confederate monument in the District of Columbia when it was violently toppled and set on fire by protesters on June 19, 2020, amid nationwide unrest following the death of George Floyd.
The statue has since been stored and restored by the NPS Historic Preservation Training Center and is now slated for return.
Pushback from the Left
D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) denounced the decision:
“A statue honoring a racist and a traitor has no place on the streets of D.C.,” she said.
“President Trump’s longstanding determination to honor Confederate General Albert Pike by restoring and reinstalling the Pike statue is as indefensible as it is morally objectionable.”
Norton vowed to reintroduce legislation that would permanently remove the statue and authorize its transfer to a museum.
Pike’s Complex Legacy
While Pike’s Confederate military service lasted just under a year, his broader legacy includes:
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Representing Native American tribes in legal disputes against the U.S. government
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Serving briefly as a Confederate general in the Indian Territory
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Participating in the Battle of Pea Ridge in 1862
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Becoming a prolific Masonic scholar and authoring much of the Scottish Rite’s rituals
Pike left the Confederate Army amid disputes with superiors and returned to private law practice. He died in 1891.
Trump’s Order: Preserve American History
The move to reinstall the statue stems from President Trump’s 2020 executive order, issued in the wake of leftist-led monument destruction, which called for the protection and restoration of federal statues, including Confederate-era monuments tied to broader American history.
The Pike statue is one of many that were vandalized or destroyed as part of nationwide efforts to erase or reinterpret public monuments.
