UDC Floorboard Riser Inscription

In 1929, the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) financed extensive improvements to the Statue Chamber of Lee Chapel, where Edward Valentine's recumbent statue of General Robert E. Lee had been displayed since 1883. The project followed years of controversy surrounding proposals to enlarge and substantially alter the chapel during the presidency of Henry Louis Smith. Rather than reconstructing the historic building, the University undertook improvements to the existing chamber, including new flooring, fireproofing, and commemorative markers.

The improvements were formally presented to Washington and Lee on October 12, 1929, the fifty-ninth anniversary of Lee's death. Mary B. Poppenheim, president-general of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, presented the gift, which John W. Davis, a distinguished alumnus, 1924 presidential nominee, and university trustee, accepted. The renovations included new tiling in the vestibule adjoining the Statue Chamber, a commemorative inscription on the steps leading into the antechamber, and the replacement of stone slabs with a cement floor leading toward the chapel basement. Another marker, placed in the newly opened Lee Chapel museum beneath the sanctuary, identified Robert E. Lee's original burial place. At its June 1929 meeting, the Board of Trustees had expressed its appreciation for the UDC's generosity, praising the improvements for providing “a more fitting and more beautiful setting for the Recumbent Statue of General Robert E. Lee.”

The project reflected the longstanding relationship between W&L and the UDC, whose involvement in Lee Chapel extended to its museum, grounds, and the preservation and interpretation of Lee's legacy. Nearly a year later, on October 24, 1930, the Virginia Division of the UDC presented four Confederate battle flags for display in the Statue Chamber, with university trustees participating in the ceremonies. The presentation preceded the inauguration of President Francis P. Gaines the following day and further demonstrated the University's support for the organization's commemorative activities.

University officials removed the original UDC inscription in the summer of 2021, alongside other memorials from the chapel sanctuary. In June 2026, the University returned the inscription to public display in the newly renovated “Foundations and Frameworks” gallery of the chapel museum.

THIS FLOOR PLACED A.D. 1929 BY
THE UNITED DAUGHTERS OF THE CONFEDERACY

On June 4, 2021, the Washington and Lee University Board of Trustees announced plans to rename Lee Chapel and restore its auditorium to an “unadorned design,” physically separating it from the Lee family crypt and memorial sculpture. As part of these changes, university officials removed twenty historical plaques and memorials from the chapel sanctuary.

In a July 21, 2022, update, the university announced that “most of the other plaques will be moved to the galleries in the building or to the new institutional history museum, where they can be displayed with more historical context.”

In a July 16, 2023, statement concerning the removal of four other historical plaques, the university declared that its campus was “neither a museum nor an appropriate repository for Confederate artifacts.” The step inscription acknowledges the United Daughters of the Confederacy, although the university has not indicated whether this association influenced its decision to remove or relocate the memorial.

When the renovated chapel galleries reopened in June 2026, six memorials removed from the chapel sanctuary in 2021 were returned to public display. These plaques, including this inscription, were installed together in display cases in the Foundations and Frameworks exhibit of the chapel museum, without accompanying descriptions, interpretation, or historical context.

Eleven memorials removed from the chapel in 2021 have still not been returned to public display. The university has not responded to recent TGR inquiries concerning the whereabouts and future exhibition of removed plaques. However, in September 2026 correspondence with The W&L Spectator, Museum Director Matt Davis stated: “Our storage facility is not open to the public, nor do we make a list of our collections inventory available to the public.” He further explained that “the size and weight of some of these artifacts are not conducive to public viewing.” Regarding their future exhibition, Davis wrote: “It is possible that some or all of these artifacts will eventually be incorporated into temporary or permanent exhibits once the new museum is open, and we hope to have online databases and viewing rooms in the future.”

1. https://digitalarchive.wlu.edu/islandora/ring-tum-phi-october-12-1929

2. https://www.virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=LG19301021.1.1

3. Valentine, Edward Virginius, Sculptor, M. Miley & Son, photographer. Recumbent statue of General Robert E. Lee, Lee Chapel, Washington & Lee University, Lexington, Virginia / M. Miley & Son, Lexington, Va. Lexington Virginia,. [Lexington, va.: m. miley & son] Photograph. https://lccn.loc.gov/2019631493.

4. Washington and Lee University Board of Trustees, Resolution No. 10, June 1929, Trustees Papers, Box 27, Folder 438, Special Collections and Archives, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia.

5. https://www.wlu.edu/about-w-l/leadership/board-of-trustees/messages-from-the-board-of-trustees/message-archive-2020-2023/the-future-of-washington-and-lee-university

6. https://columns.wlu.edu/update-on-university-chapel-renovations/

7. https://columns.wlu.edu/university-chapel-renovations-nearing-completion/