A controversial 2.4-ton road marker honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee appeared last week without hoopla at Marion Square on King Street, surprising some history buffs around Charleston.
“It draws more attention to itself by not being discussed than it is if discussed,” said historian Harlan Greene, who chairs the city’s Commission on History. Changes at the park, managed by the city but not owned by it, generally are communicated to the commission, such as the recent addition of a Medal of Honor plaque, he said.
But not this time, which another commission member said really wasn’t needed because the marker, originally donated by the city in 1947, was just a few blocks north along another part of King Street that stretches across the South as the Lee Highway.
“All we did was move it,” said Charleston resident Dale Theiling, a member of the commission who also is board chair of the two militia groups that own Marion Square. “It didn’t fall under the purview of a review by the commission.”
In a Dec. 11 statement provided Tuesday, Theiling’s group, the Board of Field Officers of the Fourth Brigade, said it was asked by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) to help settle a spat with the Charleston County School District. In 2021, the district asked the city to remove “the Daughters’ distinguished art object” from in front of the Charleston County Charter School for Math and Science. That became the subject of a UDC lawsuit, which then got “bogged down” in court.
According to the statement, the “board’s guiding precept is that any addition to its historic property would represent Charleston’s place in military service and history, or would further public understanding of Marion Square itself. The legal easement agreement between the UDC and the Board of Field Officers that brought the willing parties together and the Lee roadside marker to Marion Square, advances those purposes. Also, the agreement states this transfer of location and ownership of the 1947 Robert E. Lee Highway roadside marker is ‘in keeping with the memorial’s original purpose.’”
Theiling said the commission would be briefed on the marker at its next meeting.
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