Focus on this artwork and discuss the History.
Not long after Wickham's death, employees of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, "all of whom were sincerely devoted to the deceased, whose memory they tenderly cherish and revere," initiated an effort to erect a bronze statue in his memory. As of September of 1889, a committee consisting of ex-Senator John Callahan, C.T. Dabney, W.B. Waldron, E.C. Meredith, and W.J. Binford partnered with sculptor Edward V. Valentine to create and erect a statue so as to "perpetuate the heroic life and gallant deeds of the late Gen. William C. Wickham." 
Erected in 1891, the work was the gift of Williams' fellow soldiers and the employees of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.Vandals stole Wickham's sword in August 1956.The artwork was surveyed by the Smithsonian Institution's "Save Outdoor Sculpture!" in 1995.In 2017, Clayton and Will Wickham, two of Wickham's descendants, requested that the city of Richmond remove the statue. In their letter to the city council, the brothers wrote that "as a plantation owner, Confederate general and industrialist, General Wickham unapologetically accrued power and wealth through the exploitation of enslaved people".Public objections to the sculpture's presence in Monroe Park increased during the 2020 George Floyd protests. In June 2020, protesters toppled the sculpture using ropes.
George Floyd protests Smithsonian Institution Richmond Monroe Park Save Outdoor Sculpture! Chesapeake and Ohio Railway