A.P. Hill removal plans in Richmond now under legal challenge

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - A legal challenge is being mounted against the City of Richmond’s plans to remove the final confederate statue still standing.

A.P. Hill, a general, killed in the Civil War, is buried under the statue, which sits at the intersection of Hermitage and Laburnum on the city’s north side.

Under the law, the city had to petition a judge to get permission to remove Hill’s remains. Earlier this month, a group of Hill’s descendants objected, not to the removal itself, but to what happens to the large granite marker.

“Are the people who have identified their selves as defendants truly defendants? That’s a question of whether they have a right to participate in objecting to the city’s plans,” said Steven Benjamin, NBC12 Legal Analyst.

Those descendants want control of it and don’t want the statue or marker going to The Black History Museum, which has taken control of all the other Confederate monuments removed in the city.

“Ordinarily, the question surrounding the A.P. Hill monument would be whether this was a grave marker that is meant to identify the person whose remains are beneath the marker or whether it’s a monument to something else,” said Benjamin.

Benjamin says the marker/monument debate may become moot since the city owns the circle, and different cemetery rules could apply.

“So, it does appear that if this city property and it is, that’s what’s been alleged, then the city has the right to determine what to do with that property,” said Benjamin.

Hill’s remains are slated to be taken to a Culpeper cemetery, where he was originally from.

A court hearing is not yet set. So far, no comment from the attorneys involved in the case.

View the entire petition HERE.

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