Virginia's Democratic House speaker quietly removes Robert E. Lee statue and the busts of seven Confederate leaders - including Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis - claiming she has authority over decorations

A statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee and busts of seven other confederate leaders were quietly removed from the Virginia State Capitol under the cover of night Thursday by order of its Democratic House Leader. 

The 900-pound, bronze Lee statue and busts of Gen. Stonewall Jackson and Confederate President Jefferson Davis and other members of the Confederacy were removed from the old House chamber under orders from House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, a Democrat from Fairfax.

The additional monuments removed were of Fitzhugh Lee, J.E.B. Stuart, Matthew Fontaine Maury, Joseph E. Johnston and Alexander Stephens, plus a plaque honoring Thomas Bocock. All were placed in an undisclosed location. 

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Workmen remove a bust of Joseph E. Johnston before moving on to a statue of Robert E. Lee from the Viriginia State Capitol Thursday, under orders from House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, a Democrat from Fairfax

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Workmen haul away a bust of Matthew Fontaine Maury, which was among the monuments removed from the old House chamber

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Also removed was a bust of Thomas J. 'Stonewall' Jackson 

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Busts of Fitzhugh Lee, left, and James E. B 'Jeb' Stuart, await boxing as part of the removal

News of the removal was observed by some journalists, who agreed not to reveal the news until Friday morning, reported the Washington Post.

All was kept quiet as controversies have arisen around the country over the removal of Confederate monuments, after protests demanded it following the killing of George Floyd. 

Filler-Corn chose to make her move to remove the Lee statue and busts from the Capitol claiming she had the authority under the Virginia constitution and the rules of the House.

As speaker, the Democrat said she can decide on decorations and and furnishings inside those parts of the building controlled by the House. She has appointed a bipartisan advisory group to next decide what should go in place of the monuments.

'Virginia has a story to tell that extends far beyond glorifying the Confederacy and its participants. The Confederacy's primary objective in the Civil War was to preserve an ideology that maintained the enslavement of human beings,' she said. 'Now is the time to provide context to our Capitol to truly tell the Commonwealth's whole history.' 

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Filler-Corn chose to make her move to remove the Lee statue and busts from the Capitol claiming she had the authority under the Virginia constitution and the rules of the House. The Democrat is pictured after taking her oath of office earlier this year

Minority Leader Del. Todd Gilbert, who is a Republican representing Shenandoah, fired back at Filler-corn's decision, saying he was 'perplexed' she would remove the Lee statue.

'Unlike the Lee monument on Monument Avenue, this statue is a historical marker,' Gilbert said in an emailed statement, the Post reported.

Gilbert noted in a sarcastic remark that the State Capitol also had been used as the Confederate Capitol building during the Civil War, 'a fact that should no doubt force the Speaker's new Advisory Group to recommend that it be razed to the ground.'

Del. Lamont Bagby, a Democrat from Henrico who heads Virginia's black caucus, responded more favorably to Filler-Corn's decision.

'Generations of Virginians, Americans and visitors from around the world have been greeted by these imposing symbols of treason and white supremacy for far too long,' he said in an email.

Bagby preferred acknowledging the history of the memorials, not honoring it.

Lee was famously defeated at Gettysburg by Union Maj. Gen. George Meade. Historians say Lee's massed infantry assault across a wide plain was a gross miscalculation in the era of artillery and rifle fire.

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Workmen bring plywood to box up the statue of Lee, who was  defeated at Gettysburg by Union Maj. Gen. George Meade. Historians say Lee's massed infantry assault across a wide plain was a gross miscalculation in the era of artillery and rifle fire

A few weeks after becoming the general in chief of the armies of the Confederate states, Lee surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia on April 9, 1865. 

A career army officer, Lee married into one of the wealthiest slave-holding families in Virginia - the Custis family of Arlington and descendants of Martha Washington. When Lee's father-in-law died, he took leave from the U.S. Army to run the struggling estate and met resistance from slaves expecting to be freed. 

The Memorial Day killing of the black 46-year-old father of five in Minneapolis came after white police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee against Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes.