Confederate Memorial
Choosing Moses Ezekiel to sculpt the Confederate Memorial at Arlington Cemetery had many ironies. For the Loughboroughs, who contributed to the construction fund, it was twofold. Margaret had shopped at the Ezekiel’s store in Richmond during the Civil War, and then an Ezekiel later bought Milton. There were larger ironies though. The federal government seized the Custis-Lee mansion during the Civil War and put a cemetery on Robert E. Lee’s property. Yet later, when Confederate veterans wanted a memorial there, the government acceded and picked Moses Ezekiel to do the work. It was Lee, supposedly, who convinced Ezekiel that he should become an artist. Although Ezekiel was living in Italy at the time of his death, his body was interred at the base of the memorial.
