San Francisco Protesters Topple Statue of Union General Ulysses S. Grant

Protesters brought down a statue of former President Ulysses S. Grant, who also led the Union Army during the Civil War, in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on Friday.

“Also torn down in the park on Friday were the statues of St. Junipero Serra and Francis Scott Key, who wrote the lyrics of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,'” according to the Hill.

Police said about 400 people gathered around the monument at 8:00 p.m. to pull it down, but no arrests were made.

Saturday morning, Adam Serwer, a staff writer for the Atlantic, shared photos of the toppled Grant statue and offered historical context:

Grant did briefly own one slave he freed years before the war; but as a general he smashed the Confederacy, and as president he crushed the Klan. He presided over the ratification of the 15th Amendment. People going after Grant probably just want to break things. https://t.co/rVtPOcvyAN

— Adam Serwer🍝 (@AdamSerwer) June 20, 2020

More video footage showed protesters taking down the 131-year-old statue of Key, who wrote the U.S. national anthem:

#BREAKING: Demonstrators topple statues in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. @hurd_hurd will have details on our News at 11. https://t.co/RvmlMqu73s pic.twitter.com/iUZE28AvdD

— NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) June 20, 2020

The Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon described the monument in 2019:

Some features of the monument are to be expected; Key himself with pen in hand towering over passersby, verses from the anthem inscribed around the monument at the top and near ground level and an eagle is perched at each corner of the monument above Key. Above the eagles stands Columbia, an early symbol of the United States before Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty.

Friday evening, author Shane Bauer shared video footage of the moment when St. Junípero Serra’s statue was also torn down:

People just toppled the Junipero Serra statue in San Francisco. Serra founded the first nine Spanish missions in California. pic.twitter.com/YbfEzKMyjH

— Shane Bauer (@shane_bauer) June 20, 2020

“Friday was Juneteenth, a national celebration commemorating the last slaves being freed in Texas on June 19, 1865 – nearly two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued,” according to the Hill.

Also on Friday, Washington Post reporter Perry Stein shared video footage of protesters tearing down a statue of Confederate General Albert Pike in Washington, DC, then lighting it on fire:

And protesters just toppled the Albert Pike statue in DC pic.twitter.com/gEzJm0OYjd

— Perry Stein (@PerryStein) June 20, 2020

They have now lit the toppled statue on fire pic.twitter.com/53nrC4G72u

— Perry Stein (@PerryStein) June 20, 2020

“The statue, dedicated in 1901, was located in Judiciary Square about half a mile from the U.S. Capitol,” according to Fox 26.

“It was built at the request of Masons who successfully lobbied Congress to grant them land for the statue as long as Pike would be depicted in civilian, not military, clothing,” the report concluded.