Caddo Parish Confederate Monument

The Caddo Parish Confederate Monument is a large statue and pedestal in Shreveport, Louisiana, which was erected in the early 1900s to commemorate the Lost Cause of the Confederate States of America and to admonish southerners "Lest We Forget" of their ancestors who fought and died in the American Civil War.

The upper portion of the Confederate Monument in Shreveport

Lower portion of the monument, which faces likely dismantlement later in 2018

The 30-foot tall marble-and-granite monument is located downtown at 501 Texas Avenue at what is called Government Plaza, the meeting places of both municipal and parish governments. Though listed in 2014 on the National Register of Historic Places, the monument is in imminent danger of being moved to an undisclosed site.

Similarly, departing Mayor Mitch Landrieu of New Orleans removed four major Confederate monuments from the Crescent City in 2017 and won the JFK "Profile in Courage Award" in 2018 presented by the family of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Landrieu targeted statues of Jefferson Davis, who was first interred in New Orleans and then removed to Richmond, Virginia, and Generals Robert E. Lee and Pierre G. T. Beauregard, namesake of Beauregard Parish, Louisiana. Landrieu also removed a monument dedicated to opponents of Reconstruction. Landrieu vacates the mayor’s office on May 7. He published a book, In the Shadow of the Statues, which recounts his attack on Confederate heritage. He notes that he had difficulty finding a contractor to remove the statues because of the possibility of negative publicity. Landrieu has even been mentioned as a potential 2020 Democratic nominee to oppose Donald Trump.

On October 19, 2017, the Caddo Parish Commission, after hearing public input, voted 7-5 to remove the monument from the downtown location. The United Daughters of the Confederacy established the monument and claims ownership of the ground on which it sets. The UDC filed suit in a bid to halt the removal. Presiding Judge Robert G. James, a liberal appointee of Bill Clinton, rejected the UDC's attempt to procure a preliminary injunction barring the removal of the monument. James wrote that the UDC faces an "uphill battle" in trying to prove that it owns the land on which the monument sets. James said that the UDC "failed to meet that burden or to show that it is entitled to relief otherwise. Judge James first set the court date for April 30, 2018.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy then sought depositions from Steven Jackson, Lyndon Johnson, Matthew Linn, and Stormy Gage Watts, four of the seven liberal commissioners who voted for removal of the monument. Judge James quickly denied the request. He said that the reasons Jackson, Johnson, Linn, and Watts voted for removal are irrelevant to the case.

On May 14, 2018, Judge James again denied a motion to reconsider his January decision against the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The UDC's Shreveport chapter sued after the Caddo Parish Commission voted to remove the monument. The organization sought a preliminary injunction to stall removal pending a trial. At this time, no trial date is pending. Caddo Parish has yet to announce specific plans to move the structure.