<p class="speakable">Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday that "The Reconciliation Monument," a Confederate memorial, will be returning to Arlington National Cemetery. </p><p class="speakable">"I’m proud to announce that Moses Ezekiel’s beautiful and historic sculpture — often referred to as "The Reconciliation Monument" — will be rightfully returned to Arlington National Cemetery near his burial site," Hegseth wrote on X. </p><p><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/national-park-service-announces-restore-reinstate-statue-honoring-confederate-general-albert-pike" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><strong><u>NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ANNOUNCES IT WILL RESTORE, REINSTATE STATUE HONORING CONFEDERATE GENERAL ALBERT PIKE</u></strong></a></p><p>The monument was removed in 2023 amid moves by the Pentagon to remove statues and rename military installations honoring Confederate figures and moved into a Defense Department storage facility in Virginia.</p><p>"It never should have been taken down by woke lemmings. Unlike the Left, we don’t believe in erasing American history—we honor it," Hegseth said. </p><p><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/david-marcus-bring-back-redskins-everything-else-torn-down-wokeness" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><strong><u>DAVID MARCUS: BRING BACK THE REDSKINS, AND EVERYTHING ELSE TORN DOWN BY WOKENESS</u></strong></a></p><p>At the time the monument was removed, GOP lawmakers said it does not honor the Confederacy, but instead, commemorates reconciliation and national unity.</p><p>The memorial was unveiled in 1914 by then-President Woodrow Wilson, after being commissioned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Congress had authorized the reinternment of Confederate remains to Arlington National Cemetery just 14 years prior.</p><p>Ezekiel was a Jewish American sculptor who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. After the war, General Robert E. Lee encouraged him to become a sculptor, and he attended the Virginia Military College and studied anatomy, according to the Smithsonian American Art Museum.</p><p><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/apps-products" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><strong><u>CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP</u></strong></a></p><p>He is also buried with honors at Arlington. </p>