The Pentagon is reinstalling a portrait of Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the West Point library, according to Pentagon officials, reviving a display removed three years ago under congressional directive.
The nearly 20-foot-tall painting, in place since 1952, features Lee in his gray Confederate uniform with a slave visible behind him, guiding his horse. It was taken down after a 2020 law required removal of Confederate imagery from military sites and established a commission to oversee the process. In 2022 that commission instructed West Point to eliminate all items that commemorate the Confederacy, leading to the portrait’s storage.
How the academy will reinstate the painting without conflicting with federal law remains unclear.
Army Communications Director Rebecca Hodson told The New York Times that the academy plans to restore historical names, artifacts and assets to their original settings. “Under this administration,” she said, “we honor our history and learn from it — we don’t erase it.”
The move aligns with broader efforts by the administration to reinstate Confederate symbols, including the use of base names tied to Confederate leaders by honoring different individuals who share the same names.
Lee’s longstanding ties to West Point complicate the issue. A top graduate of his class and later superintendent of the academy, Lee’s image remains pervasive across the campus. The commission had allowed Lee’s portraits in his U.S. Army uniform to remain but removed the Confederate one.
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