DC's sole Confederate general statue returns after vandalized, toppled during 2020 BLM riots

The sole Confederate general statue in Washington, D.C., has been returned to its home bring vandalized and toppled during the June 2020 Black Lives Matter riots.

The 11-foot-tall bronze statue of Confederate diplomat and Brig. Gen. Albert Pike was returned Saturday to the capital city's Judiciary Square by the National Park Service on Saturday, after being in storage for over five years, local news-radio station WTOP reported Monday.

The statue was dedicated in 1901, after it was authorized by Congress in 1898, and honors Pike's more than 30 years as the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient and Accepted Rite of Scottish Freemasonry.

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.

The D.C. government tried to have the statute removed over the years, including in 1992, when the D.C. City Council petitioned the federal government for its removal.

The return of the statue follows two of President Trump's executive orders from March that direct federal agencies to "protect public monuments and present a full and accurate picture of the American past," the National Park Service said in August.