Editing Talbot County, Maryland (section)

=== Talbot Boys monument ===
[[File:1talbot co. courthouse statue.jpg|thumb|upright|The "Talbot Boys" confederate monument outside the county courthouse]]
From 1916 to 2022, a statue honoring the Talbot County men who fought in the [[Confederate States Army]] in the [[American Civil War]] stood in front of the [[Talbot County Courthouse (Maryland)|Talbot County Courthouse]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=(Talbot Boys Monument), (sculpture) |url=https://www.si.edu/object/siris_ari_324947 |access-date=September 12, 2020 |website=Smithsonian Institution |language=en}}</ref> The statue depicted a young boy holding and wrapped in a [[Flags of the Confederate States of America|Confederate flag]], and bears the inscription: "To the Talbot Boys · 1861–1865 · C.S.A.". Talbot County also had over 300 Union soldiers in the war, but there has never been a monument to them.<ref name="newyorker" />

Like other [[List of Confederate monuments and memorials|Confederate monuments]] installed during the [[Jim Crow era]], the monument drew increased opposition in the 21st century by those opposed to honoring the Confederacy and its defense of slavery. In 2015, the local N.A.A.C.P. chapter proposed removing the statue, but the County Council unanimously voted to keep it in place.<ref name="newyorker" /> In June 2020, a lengthy series of letters to the editor of ''The Talbot Spy'', a local newspaper, was published, all arguing for the removal of the statue.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 23, 2020 |title=(Many) Letters to the Editor: Remove the Talbot Boys Statue |url=https://talbotspy.org/many-letters-to-the-editor-remove-the-talbot-boys-statue/ |access-date=June 22, 2022 |work=The Talbot Spy}}</ref> In August 2020, after the [[George Floyd protests]] led to a new wave of [[List of monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests|removals of Confederate monuments]], the County Council voted down 3:2 a resolution to remove the statue, triggering loud public protests.<ref name="newyorker">{{Cite magazine |last=Cep |first=Casey |date=September 12, 2020 |title=My Local Confederate Monument |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/my-local-confederate-monument |access-date=September 12, 2020 |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Moyer |first=Justin Wm |date=July 3, 2020 |title=Purge of Confederate symbols comes for Maryland's 104-year-old 'Talbot Boys' statue |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/purge-of-confederate-symbols-comes-for-marylands-104-year-old-talbot-boys-statue/2020/07/02/f7b39edc-bbb3-11ea-86d5-3b9b3863273b_story.html |access-date=September 12, 2020 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

By 2021, the statue was the only remaining Confederate statue on public grounds in Maryland.<ref name="sun" /> In May 2021, the [[American Civil Liberties Union|ACLU]] sued the county in federal court to demand its removal.<ref name="sun" /> In September 2021, the County Council voted 3:2 to remove the statue.<ref name="sun">{{Cite news |last=Oxenden |first=McKenna |date=September 15, 2021 |title=Talbot Boys Confederate monument to be removed on courthouse grounds on Maryland's Eastern Shore |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/eastern-shore/bs-md-talbot-boys-statue-relocation-20210915-q63slcw6nzgkbbb6275pwj3vtm-story.html |access-date=March 5, 2022 |work=[[The Baltimore Sun]]}}</ref> It was removed on March 14, 2022, and relocated to the [[Battle of Cross Keys|Cross Keys battlefield]] in [[Harrisonburg, Virginia]], under the control of the nonprofit Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Leckrone |first=Bennett |date=March 12, 2022 |title=Confederate Talbot Boys Statue to Be Removed from Easton Courthouse Lawn Monday, County Says |url=https://www.marylandmatters.org/2022/03/11/confederate-talbot-boys-statue-to-be-removed-from-easton-courthouse-lawn-monday-county-says/ |access-date=March 15, 2022 |work=[[Maryland Matters]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=March 14, 2022 |title=Crews take down Maryland's last public Confederate statue |url=https://wjla.com/news/local/maryland-last-public-confederate-statue-removal-talbot-boys-civil-war-eastern-shore-county-courthouse-lawn |access-date=March 15, 2022 |work=[[WJLA-TV]] |agency=Associated Press}}</ref>