RICHMOND, Va. -- A Richmond Circuit Court judge said he would take 30 days to consider arguments in a case that will decide the fate of the last remaining Confederate statue in the city and the human remains underneath.
A statue of Gen. A.P. Hill and his remains have been at the intersection of Hermitage and Laburnum since 1891.
While the other Confederate statues were taken down by the city in 2020, the city needed the court's permission to remove the Hill statue, because Hill is buried underneath.
Hill's descendants are opposed to what the city has planned for some of what will be removed.
In court, lawyers for the city and the descendants (none of whom are direct descendants, as none of Hill's children had children themselves), said that both sides are in agreement that the remains should be reinterred in Fairview Cemetery in Culpeper, where Hill is originally from.
But, while the city wants to give the statue, like the others it took down, to the Black History Museum and Cultural Center -- the descendants want the statue to be placed on the grounds of the Cedar Mountain Battlefield.
The city argued that the statue is a Confederate war monument and falls under Virginia Code that gives the locality the final say about what to do with the structure.
The descendants argue that the statue is a grave marker because it is over Hill's remains and is private property that gives them the final say. They added the statue will become a cenotaph if placed at the battlefield.
The lawyer for the descendants said that if the judge is opposed to splitting up the remains and the statue, the family is OK with both going to the battlefield. The lawyer said the cemetery did not want the statue, while a board member for the battlefield said while they had discussed taking Hill's remains a final decision had not been made.
Following the roughly two-and-a-half-hour hearing, Circuit Court Judge D. Eugene Cheek, Sr. said he would take their arguments under consideration and issue a ruling in 30 days.
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