"At Ready" Confederate Soldier Monument, Charlottesville

"At Ready" Confederate Soldier Monument, Charlottesville

“At Ready,” also popularly referred to as “Johnny Reb,” is a Confederate soldier monument in front of the Albemarle County Courthouse in Charlottesville, Virginia. The statue was unveiled in 1909 by the City of Charlottesville and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and represents the formation of the Monticello Guard, which was a militia company started in Virginia in 1857 that joined the 19th Virginia Infantry when they seceded from the Union in 1861. The statue was also accompanied by a time capsule containing Confederate memorabilia including a roster of the Albemarle chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a brief history of the erection of the monument, and a pamphlet containing the history of Charlottesville up until 1909. This statue is one of the many across the country removed following the Unite the Right rally in 2017, which was initially a protest against the removal of confederate monuments, but violent outbursts at the event actually helped to accelerate the movement to remove them. It was removed by unanimous vote by the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, and it was relocated for display at the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District in Waynesboro, Virginia in September of 2020 as the first area to remove a war memorial under new Virginia State law as of July 2020.

American Bronze Foundry Co.

"Albemarle County Accepts Offer for At Ready and memorials at Court Square." Albemarle County. https://www.albemarle.org/Home/Components/News/News/108/ (accessed December 13, 2020).

"Watch: A Virtual Tour of Charlottesville’s Johnny Reb Statue." University of Virginia. https://religionlab.virginia.edu/news/watch-a-virtual-tour-of-charlottesvilles-johnny-reb-statue/ (accessed December 13, 2020).

1909

Sally Hy, Jacob Sandusky

English

Sculpture

HIST 402A Fall 2020-2023

Charlottesville, VA