Latest news on Lee Rides Again
4/11/24–New Fundraising Item!
We are excited to announce a new fundraising item for Lee Rides Again! Our good friends at the Confederate Shop in Harrisonburg generously donated limited edition challenge coins to the cause! If you have seen the other coins from their monument series, you know they are high quality collector’s items.
One side of these LRA coins feature Judy Smith’s iconic photo of the original Lee monument as well as the battle flag of the 13th Virginia, distinctive for its 12 stars. The Gordonsville Grays were company C of the 13th, A.P. Hill’s first command. The reverse side features the original militia flag of the Grays and the charge to the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
This commemorative coin will truly be a keepsake for anyone who wants to be a part of raising the new monument to General Lee! Pick one up from The Confederate Shop here or check out our events section to see where we’ll be and get one in person.
4/6/24–Fundraising and progress update
Happy Confederate History month from the Gordonsville Grays! This month we remember the proud history of Virginians and all Southerners who defended their homes against a tyrannical federal government. It was April 17th, 1861 when the Commonwealth of Virginia seceded, refusing to participate in a war of subjugation after Lincoln’s call for troops to invade South Carolina. Virginia stood with her fellow Southern states in defense of Constitutional government and refused to allow an invading army to march through her borders unopposed. For four long years the Confederacy fought for independence in the face of insurmountable numbers, leaving to us a legacy of patriotism, sacrifice, and courage. Today it is our mission as the Gordonsville Grays to preserve this legacy of honor for future generations.
To that end, the Lee Rides Again monument project is moving forward with almost $95,000 raised! We are looking forward to displaying the model at the SCV Virginia Division Convention in a couple weeks. Our artist, Tom Gallo, has been refining it at his studio the last several months and we will soon have updated photos to show the changes and remarkable detail he has added.
Our next step is to have a foundry digitally photograph and map the clay model into a 3D computer model. We are talking with a couple foundries about this process and both are friendly to our cause. One specifically refused to melt the Charlottesville Lee monument when offered the job. Once the model is mapped, we will have a bronze copy made at its current scale. This will be much easier to transport and display than the clay model and in the future it will be raffled off as a fundraiser. Our goal is to have the bronze model on display at the SCV National Reunion in Charleston this July. Smaller copies of the model are still planned as well for donors to be able to have one of their own.
Once we have the bronze model cast, we will be focused on expanding the campaign to those outside of our immediate heritage organizations. Americans are disgusted at the destruction of our history and want to do something about it. Thank you to everyone who has supported the Lee Rides Again project so far! You are all a part of this critical work to preserve the legacy of General Robert E. Lee for generations to come.
Gordonsville Grays
10/28/23–Fundraising update and statement on the melting down of Charlottesville’s Lee monument
We are now just over $70,000 raised toward the new Lee monument! Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far. Our sculptor Tom Gallo has been hard at work on refining the clay model and we will be posting updated photos of his work in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, please read our public statement from 10/28/23:
“By now you’ve probably heard that Charlottesville’s Lee monument has been melted down. We’ve been told this was necessary for ‘healing’ and ‘reconciliation’. The statue was melted in secret, supposedly out of fear that hate groups would target the foundry. The irony is that the Charlottesville City Council and the Jefferson school were the only hate groups involved in the recent court case and destruction of the monument.
Everything they’ve done has been motivated by a hatred for Robert E Lee and those who admire him. City Council gave the monument to the Jefferson school out of hatred, knowing their plan was to melt it down. They removed it and cut it into small pieces out of hatred. They delayed and obfuscated the court case out of hatred (even hatred for the rule of law). They published photos of Lee’s head in the furnace out of hatred. They’ve chosen the anniversary of the statue’s unveiling to announce the selection of a new design out of hatred. Their campaign has been one of division, vindictiveness, and spite, not healing and reconciliation.
The Gordonsville Grays, however, have never been motivated by hatred. Indeed, we are motivated by more powerful things: love and admiration. Love for our Southern heritage that no professor, no city councilor, and no governor could ever tear down. Love for a tradition of duty, honor, and courage that no foundry could ever destroy. Admiration for a man who sacrificed everything in defense of his home and deeply held principles. Admiration for a brilliant general who preferred to be known simply as a humble Christian.
We have chosen to respond to the hatred directed at General Lee by leading the charge to raise a new monument in his honor. The efforts to crush our spirit and make us angry have only encouraged us that our mission is more vital than ever—it is our responsibility to remember our history.
To date we have raised over $70,000. Thanks to the Stonewall Brigade Camp 1296, we have a spectacular location to raise it at the new Lee Jackson Memorial Park. We have a small scale clay model that was unveiled in April. Sculptor Tom Gallo has been hard at work on refining it for the last several months (new photos coming) and we will soon be taking it on tour to help raise funds.
If you are among the millions of Americans who still hold dear the legacy of Robert E Lee, won’t you stand with us? When your grandchildren ask what you did when they melted down the statue of Lee, what will you tell them? Did you sit idly by or did you make a stand against the destruction of our history? The men of the Gordonsville Grays are making a stand and we encourage you to join us in donating.
We also need your prayers. Lee’s true greatness was not in his incredible ability to lead men, but in his incredible humility to follow Jesus in all things. We recognize that without God’s blessing we will not succeed. Join us and together we will see to it that Lee rides again!”
Gordonsville Grays
4/30/23–Model and Sculptor announcement
On this final day of Virginia’s Confederate History and Heritage month, we want to share another exciting update on our Lee Rides Again project. Recently we have formed a relationship with historical artist and sculptor Tom Gallo of North Carolina. Tom has been hard at work on a small-scale model of the Lee monument on which the final statue will be based. While there are still some minor changes to be made before the model is finished, we want to show you the tremendous progress so far.
The model stands about 40” tall x 48” long and is a great representation of the original statue. With the technology available to foundries today, it can be digitally mapped and enlarged (or shrunk) and the details can be reworked before molds are made for the casting process. Once the model is finalized, we plan to have miniatures cast and made available to help with our fundraising effort.
Last weekend was our first public appearance with the model at the Virginia Division SCV reunion, where folks were impressed to see the detailed work Tom has put into it. We hope to have it at a few other events this year for anyone that wants to see it in person. For now we hope ya’ll enjoy the photos on our gallery page!
Gordonsville Grays
4/25/23–Location announcement!
Since the Lee Rides Again project began, the question we have been asked most often is where will the statue go? After a year of searching, the Gordonsville Grays are proud to announce that our future monument now has a home. After much consideration we have decided to partner with the great Stonewall Brigade Camp 1296 to put the monument at the new Lee Jackson Park just north of Lexington, Virginia!
While our original location area was proposed between Richmond and Charlottesville (close to Gordonsville), we can hardly imagine a better location than Lee Jackson Park. There the monument will have unparalleled visibility on land owned by the SCV and only a short drive from General Lee’s final resting place. If you have not heard about the yeoman’s work being done by the Stonewall Brigade, you can read more about the park on their website: Leejacksonpark.com. It is going to be a destination for Southerners where we can honor our history for generations to come.
We couldn’t be happier to partner with camp 1296 and we look forward to the day when visitors to Lee Jackson Park will be able to see a magnificent equestrian statue of General Lee just as we once did on Monument Avenue.
Stay tuned in the weeks to come as we will be making another announcement on the Lee Rides Again project soon.
Gordonsville Grays
3/14/23–Fundraising update
The Lee Rides Again monument campaign is going strong. We are almost to $50,000! The current total raised is $48,946.89.
We have been working hard behind the scenes to answer the big questions that everyone is asking–where exactly will it be located? Who will sculpt it? We have made significant progress is answering these questions and while we aren’t ready to make a major announcement quite yet, we are hoping to answer both of those questions in the next several months.
If you can help us get to $50,000 and beyond, send a check to the address above or follow the link to our givesendgo page. Thank you for your continued support! With your help we will once again have an equestrian monument of General Lee in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
On April 15th-16th we will be at the Exchange Museum in Gordonsville for their living history weekend. This event is always a great experience for the whole family! Come take a tour through the museum, talk with reenactors about soldier life, and stop by our table to support the cause or find out more information.
Gordonsville Grays