It’s not a stature, but there’s a tall obelisk monument to the memory of Henry Wirz, the commandant of the prison camp, in Andersonville, GA. Andersonville is roughly the size of a back yard so the monument is the center of the town. So far as I know it’s the only monument in America to the memory of a man hanged (deservedly*) for war crimes.
*I concede there were others on both sides who deserved to be hanged just as much as he did, and that his hands were tied in how much he could do for the inmates at Andersonville, but the fact others weren’t hanged doesn’t make him less worthy of it and there was a lot he could EASILY have done to ease some of the misery.
Wikipedia doesn’t even have an entry, I suspect its a taboo subject. Other articles say there are probably some in private collections.
Not much turned up for hirohito ones or mussolini.
Pretty ambiguous thread as we have seen. A creep to someone is a hero- or at least a product of their age- to others.
I would have no problem with statues of Lenin, Queen Victoria, or Robert E Lee.
I can see others might.
I would have difficulty with statues of Pol Pot, Hitler, Stalin and Richard Simmons.
Who is going to arbitrate?
So, do you feel the same way about the other big name from the era who had a similar history – joined one army, felt he got dicked over when promotion time came around, then switched sides and fought for the other?
'Cause we have statues of George Washington up all over the place.
Like others have suggested above, a great conqueror is a hero or a villain, depending on who’s saying. The victors get to write the history book and put up the statues.
In Hawaii, there are statues of the conquering marauder Kamehameha everywhere.
1.) I didn’t say how I felt about Benedict Arnold
2.) Your assertion that Washington joined up with the rebels because he felt neglected by the British army is questiionable and unsupported.
I’m surprised that no one has mentioned the various statues of Nathan Bedford Forrest. I suspect even many admirers would agree that he was a son of a bitch. In a altercation with a subordinate, he ended up stabbing the man to death with a pen knife.
Again, not a statue of him, but Mussolini gave Chicago a column and monument that’s still here. It probably also helps that the inscription (mentioning Mussolini, fascism, etc.) isn’t in English and the monument itself isn’t in a prominent spot.
“So he certainly was a sonofabitch.”
My apologies. I’m citing the general opinion.
But Arnold changed sides midstream, after fighting for one side, and I believe there;s evidence that he fely overlooked.
Come up with something similar for Washington, who fought for the American colonies from the beginning of the Revolution. If you claim he’s a “traitor” or a “sonofabitch” because he originally was an officer in the British army, then so are an overwhelming host of other revolutionaries who fought first for the colonial power. Washington wasn;'t in the army between the French and Indian War and the Revolution, so you can’t call him a turnciat. Like Rumford, who i list above, he decided his position at the start of the rebellion.
So i don’t see how you can compare him to arnold.
I didn’t know that there were statues to one of the founders of the KKK, but it shouldn’t surprise me.
There are statues of Napoleon all over Paris. Some of them are even on top of columns.