Robert E. Lee Statue At Center Of 'Unite The Right' Rally Melted Down, Leading To Final Jokes At Confederate General's Expense

The Charlottesville Robert E. Lee statue, the center of 2017's Confederate statue removal controversy and the deadly Unite the Right Rally, has been melted down and its materials will be repurposed into a new piece of public art.

A video shared by the Washington Post showing Lee's bronze face glowing red in 2,500-degree heat has gone viral on social media.

Charlottesville’s Robert E. Lee statue has met its end, in a 2,250-degree furnace.

The divisive Confederate monument, the focus of the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in 2017, was secretly melted down and will become a new piece of public art.

More on the process:… pic.twitter.com/XatZUfvku3

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 26, 2023

The melting of the statue was led by Charlottesville's Black History Museum, which staved off a protracted legal battle from the statue's defenders to preserve it or have it repurposed into Civil War replica cannons.

The repurposing of the material will be undertaken by a group called Swords Into Plowshares, which takes its name from a Biblical passage in which the prophet Isaiah sees "turning tools of violence into ones of peace and community-building."

The news was seen as a victory for left-leaning posters online. While some hail Lee as a brilliant general and a key figure in Southern American history, he led the Confederate army after the South seceded from the Union, due in large part to the South's desire to maintain slavery. For this reason, Lee's critics have painted him as a traitor, and they fired off jokes at his expense as the clip made the rounds.

Others relitigated arguments from the statue removal controversy of 2017, arguing that the Lee statue was a part of history, and its removal and eventual destruction were actions denying that history.

Many phrased their displeasure with the statue in ominous, conspiratorial terms, among other sentiments.

While social media hashed out the significance of the statue's destruction, some had more prescient priorities and noted the smoldering face of Lee's statue would make for a great Halloween costume.