Savannah Approves Changes to Confederate Monument From 1875

A sandstone monument erected 143 years ago in memory of slain Confederate soldiers will be renamed to honor all who perished in the Civil War under a plan adopted Wednesday by the mayor and council in Georgia's oldest city.

The Confederate memorial has stood at the center of Forsyth Park in Savannah since 1875. The monument stands 48 feet (14 meters) tall and is topped with a bronze statue of a Confederate soldier standing at parade rest.

A task force of historians and other local experts recommended changing the monument after Mayor Eddie DeLoach last summer proposed finding a way "to expand the story this monument tells to be inclusive of all." The mayor was responding to the deadly clashes at a rally by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, that stoked calls to remove Confederate statues across the South.