A 130-year-old time capsule was found in the base of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee
The governor said conservators will study the time capsule and it will not be opened on Monday.
Washington:
Workers dismantling the pedestal of a statue of a Confederate general discovered a bronze box believed to have been buried 130 years ago, the second apparent time box unearthed at the site .
“They found it!” tweeted Virginia Governor Ralph Northam. “This could be the time capsule everyone is looking for.”
They found it! This could be the time period everyone is looking for. Conservators are working on it — stay tuned for the next steps! (Will not be open today) pic.twitter.com/3lWrsPGZd2
– Governor Ralph Northam (@GovernorVA) December 27, 2021
According to an 1887 article, a time pill hidden at the foot of a statue of General Robert E. Lee, who commanded the Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War, contained relics such as buttons and bullets, Confederate currency, map, a rare photograph of assassinated president Abraham Lincoln in his casket and other paraphernalia.
Conservators opened a shoebox-sized receptacle found at the base of the statue last week but clearly not the chronograph mentioned in the 1887 newspaper fragment.
The governor’s tweet was accompanied by an image of the copper box.
The statue of Lee in Richmond, Virginia the capital of the Confederacy during the bloody conflict of 1861-65, was taken down in September, one of several Confederate monuments in support of slavery. The rate has been lifted in recent months.
The first box discovered contained three waterlogged books, a photograph in a soggy cloth envelope and a coin. The items appear to be memorabilia left to posterity by some of the craftsmen who erected the statue.
The time capsule found on Monday was twice the size. Governor Northam said conservators will study it and it will not be open on Monday.
The statue of Lee in Richmond became the focus of racial justice protests last year after the death of George Floyd, a Black man murdered by a white police officer in Minnesota.
During the Civil War, the Southern Confederacy seceded from the United States and fought to maintain slavery, which the rest of the country had abolished.
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