City of Richmond Wants to Go Corpse-Mining at Confederate Burial Site (VA)
Richmond to investigate Confederate burial site under City property
(The city of Richmond has had it in for this Confederate funerary marker for a long time. Somehow they believe that if THEIR survey doesn’t find enough remains then they can remove it. This article from the Richmond Free Pree seems to endorse just that. Could you imagine the outcry from the Free Press if this were a black burial site? - DD)
Years after a costly (???) renovation to a Confederate marker on City property sparked controversy, Richmond officials are moving forward with plans to determine whether the remains it honors are still buried there.
Mayor Danny Avula’s administration plans to examine the Department of Public Utilities’ Wise Street substation property, where the marker is located, using a vendor with ground-penetrating radar to search for human remains or burial shafts. Testing is set for this spring, with next steps depending on the findings.
“It is paramount to understand the true nature of this site prior to determining appropriate next steps,” Avula’s Interim Press Secretary Julian Walker said in a statement. “If human remains are found on the property, any decisions related to the fate of the site would by necessity be made in accordance with applicable state laws and standards pertaining to historical sites and the potential removal and relocation of such remains.”
The marker was placed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1939 to honor 100 South Carolina Confederate soldiers who died in a temporary hospital across from the marker and substation’s location, according to the marker’s inscription and other information.
In 2023, the marker saw over $16,000 in new improvements, including fencing and a bench. City officials, when asked for the rationale behind the expenditures, said…