Trump administration returns Confederate general statue in DC vandalized, toppled during BLM riots

The Trump administration will reinstall a Confederate general statue vandalized and toppled in Washington, D.C., during the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots.

The 11-foot-tall bronze statue of Confederate diplomat and Gen. Albert Pike was the only statue in the nation's capital honoring a Confederate official until rioters knocked it down, then set it on fire in June 2020, The New York Times reported.

The National Park Service announced Monday that the statue will be restored and reinstalled in October.

"Originally authorized by Congress in 1898 and dedicated in 1901, the statue honors Pike’s leadership in Freemasonry, including his 32 years as Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient Rite of Scottish Freemasonry," NPS said in its announcement.

The reinstallation of the statue follows two of President Trump's executive orders from March, "which direct federal agencies to protect public monuments and present a full and accurate picture of the American past," the agency also says.

During the Civil War, Pike was appointed as a Confederate diplomat to Native American tribes on the western frontier who were caught between the U.S. and the Confederacy. He negotiated alliances with tribes that owned slaves, offering them statehood and congressional representation in the Confederacy. As a result, Pike was commissioned as a brigadier general and commanded many of the Native American troops who sided with the Confederacy.

The inscriptions on the monument do not directly mention Pike's Confederate ties, but rather depict him as a leader of the Freemasons. The monument inscriptions note Pike was an orator, a poet, scholar, soldier, jurist and philanthropist.