West Point restores Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's portrait

A painting of Gen. Robert E. Lee, dressed in his Confederate uniform, is back on display in the West Point's library, several years after the storied academy removed honors to the Civil War military leader.

- By MICHAEL HILL

There also are plans to restore a bust of Lee that had been removed from a plaza at the U.S. Military Academy, and a quote from Lee about honor that was removed from a separate plaza is now on display beneath the portrait, an Army spokesperson said Tuesday.

The items were removed to comply with a Department of Defense directive in 2022 that ordered the academy to address racial injustice and do away with installations that “commemorate or memorialize the Confederacy.”

The Pentagon's decision to rehang the portrait, which shows a Black man leading Lee's horse in the background, was first reported by The New York Times. It had been hanging in the library since the 1950s before it was placed in storage.