Without prior notice or announcement, a bench adjacent to the Confederate marker near the Department of Public Utilities substation on Wise Street was removed. Only the four bolts that anchored the bench remain, stuck in the concrete on the spot where it was installed in 2023.

The bench, alongside fencing that was removed recently, was part of recent additions to the almost century-old memorial. The marker was placed by the Richmond branch of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1939 to honor the lives of Confederate soldiers who died in a makeshift hospital across the street from where the marker and substation are now. 

 Have you seen this bench? It’s gone from its perch in front of a Confederate marker in South Side.
 File photo/Richmond Free Press  

The additions, which cost over $16,000, were made at the request of a resident who claimed their ancestor was among the Confederate soldiers memorialized by the marker.

These claims have been challenged by research, emails and documentation from Mike Sarahan, a former employee in the City Attorney’s Office who has criticized the Confederate memorials still present in the city. Sarahan first noticed the missing bench Sunday evening.

“I hope this is just the first step in carrying out [Deputy Chief Administrative Officer] Robert Steidel’s original plan to dismantle and remove the whole thing, marker and all,” said Sarahan in an email, referring to internal communications over how to handle the marker he was provided as part of his research.

“The City people certainly owe the public an explanation of everything that has happened here.”

City of Richmond officials didn’t provide a response to a request for information about the bench ahead of publication.