Group discusses Civil War monuments in past and present times

Bridgewater College hosted its 11th-annual Civil War Institute on Saturday. Historians and professors from across the valley and the commonwealth took a look at how we remember the Civil War.

Jonathan Noyalas, Director of the McCormick Civil War Institute at Shenandoah University, said it is important to study the period to understand what is going on today.

"Certainly in light of events in Charleston, South Carolina, events in Charlottesville in recent years, the Civil War has taken front and center stage," Noyalas said.

Speakers touched on how Confederate soldiers reacted to monuments being built after the war and how different areas in the South react to monuments.

In February, a judge ruled tarps covering statues depicting Confederate generals in Charlottesville would need to be removed. The city voted to remove the statue a year earlier, but a lawsuit prevented it.