The giant multi component Mathew Fontaine Maury statue proved to be a daunting task for construction crews but nonetheless the powerful heavy equipment prevailed in removing the confederate monument. Crews had visited the statue the previous week on July 2nd to remove the figure of Mr. Maury but the 7,000 pound globe was a mighty task that would require a subsequent visit. It was also determined the risk of vandals toppling the fairly innocuous globe was pretty low.
Crews began blocking off Monument Avenue to traffic around 7 AM with the now very experienced monument removal team arriving and starting work at 8:30 AM.
The giant globe presented a number of challenges and the team of experts had to determine the safest way to wrap straps around the enormous round globe and secure the statue for lifting. After some close inspection and discussion the team wrapped straps around the solid protrusions on the sides of the statue and then tied auxilary ropes around the circumference of the globe. With the straps in place and the globe stabilized several other workers used wedges to break the statue free from the granite base.
Around 10:10 AM the crane revved up and a hundred years of dust beneath the statue was finally getting exposed to daylight as the enormous globe rose through the air.
Not long after getting the beast of a statue on the ground a large 18 wheeler tractor trailer was brought in to haul the globe away to its temporary home in Richmond's southside.
Hardly taking any break the statue removal team arrived in Monroe Park to dismantle and haul off the the smaller monuments erected to memorialize "The Lost Cause".
Crews immediately hoisted the short and squatty granite marker to Gen. Fitzhugh Lee which provided little resistance to the construction lift equipment.
Shortly thereafter the statue removal team turned their attention to the statue of Richmond industrialist and newspaper Joseph Bryan. Bryan was a notorious leader in the "Lost Cause" propaganda campaign using his money and publishing machine to spread his preferred story of the Civil War along with up-ending progress in Virginia during reconstruction.
Workers climbed atop the pedestal of this remaining confederate memorial and cranked away at the restraining bolts holding the confederate statue in place. With the last bolts removed the lift swooped in and lifted the life size statue from the granite pedestal and laid Joseph Bryan to rest on the ground.