Lawsuit Is Filed Over Private Lee Statue At Antietam
By Deborah Fitts
September 2003

SHARPSBURG, Md. - A bronze equestrian statue of Robert E. Lee went up on the Antietam battlefield June 6 to decidedly mixed reviews.

"Everyone I've talked to thinks it's a beautiful piece of art," said John Howard, superintendent of Antietam National Battlefield. "If we had paid for it, I'd be happy with the result."

William Chaney, 57, a well-to-do retired businessman, erected the 24-foot statue on land that he owns inside the park boundary. Chaney lives near Taneytown at Terra Rubra, the birthplace of Francis Scott Key, which he bought and restored.

The fact that only four of the park's 104 monuments are to Confederates, he said, prompted him to commission the Lee statue. "I thought it needed a little evening up." Chaney is descended from the Lees and has two letters by Lee "to my great-great aunts," whom Lee visited in Prince George's County.

But Save Historic Antietam Foundation (SHAF) has brought suit to bring the statue down. "It's just inappropriate where it is," explained Tom Clemens, president of the 700-member organization."It's a Confederate monument smack in the middle of the Union lines. Imagine a statue of [Union Gen. George] Meade on Seminary Ridge at Gettysburg."

Chaney erected the statue at the historic Newcomer Farm on Route 34. The 100-acre property is inside the park boundary, but in 1999 Chaney outbid the park for it, paying $300,000. Since then, Chaney has restored the Newcomer farmhouse and converted it to a Civil War museum and shop. Last year he sold the historic Newcomer Barn and 60 acres across the highway to the park.

Clemens acknowledged that Lee probably passed the Newcomer Farm on Sept. 15, 1862, two days before the battle of Antietam. He was riding in an ambulance after injuring his hands in a fall. According to Howard, most of the Confederate forces likely passed by the farm
as well, over the adjacent Middle Bridge.

The Washington County Historic District Commission voted thumbs-down on the statue, saying it was out of keeping with the restored 19th-century farmstead. The commission passes judgment on structures proposed for property within the county's historic overlay zone. But the county planning department failed to meet a deadline to issue the decision,and the Board of Zoning Appeals concluded that therefore Chaney could go ahead - which he swiftly did.

SHAF is appealing the board's decision. "We hope the suit will determine that the Board of Zoning Appeals acted improperly," said Clemens. "Chaney knows if he loses the appeal he could in fact be told to take the monument down."

Clemens said allowing the statue to stand "could set a very dangerous precedent, that any private landowner inside the park could put up a monument to anybody they want. They're lucky this is Robert E. Lee. It could be Osama Bin Laden."

Howard said it was unusual for the park to break with SHAF. "But actually I'm not too upset about the location," he said. While the "proper place" would be elsewhere on the battlefield, the park has a moratorium barring new monuments.

Howard said Chaney was "very cooperative" in abiding by an easement that the park holds on the Newcomer Farm, and took pains to ensure that the statue followed "a similar architectural style."

The bronze, 12 feet tall on a 12-foot granite base, was made by Arkansas sculptor Ron Moore. Chaney declined to cite the cost, except that it was "well into six figures." His nonprofit foundation, Southern Heritage at Antietam, is accepting donations to help pay for it, but he acknowledged that he will likely get little monetary support.

Chaney said SHAF had also opposed his plan to restore the farmhouse and convert it to a museum. "When I bought it, it was literally falling down. It would have been on the ground in five years." He said he pumped $500,000 into the modest structure, in what Clemens acknowledged was an excellent restoration. "How can you be against that?" Chaney asked.

The museum, open seven days a week, exhibits items from Chaney's collection, including a letter by Stonewall Jackson, written in Sharpsburg the night before the battle, and a presentation sword of Union Gen. George McClel-lan's that appears in several of his photos.

One of the more remarkable items is one that Chaney purchased this year, a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln. It is one of 15 known to exist, Chaney said, with most of the others in museums.

The park met with Chaney in early July to negotiate purchase of the 40 acres surrounding the Newcomer House. Chaney will retain the house-museum and shop. The new Lee statue will likely be included in the land to be sold to the park, Howard said. If so, "We'll probably
leave it where it is."

At present the park does not have an equestrian statue. Chaney had originally proposed three 30-foot statues to Lee, Stonewall Jackson and J.E.B. Stuart, but withdrew plans for the other two figures in response to local objections.