Second time capsule found in statue of US general

Workers dismantling the pedestal of the statue of an American Confederate general discovered Monday a copper box that would have been buried 130 years ago, and that would be the second time capsule rescued at that point in Richmond, Virginia.

“They found her!” State Governor Ralph Northam tweeted. “This is probably the time capsule that everyone was looking for.”

According to a newspaper article from 1887, the base of the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, it concealed a time capsule with relics such as buttons and bullets, coins, maps, a strange image of the assassinated President Abraham Lincoln in his coffin, and other items.

Last week curators opened a container the size of a shoebox that was found at the base of the statue, but was not the one mentioned in the old newspaper.

Box what did they find on monday is almost twice the size and Northam, who accompanied the tweet with an image of the casket, warned that curators would study the piece and that it would not be opened on Monday.

During the Civil War, the Confederate South separated from the United States and fought to maintain slavery, which the rest of the country had abolished.

The statue of Lee in Richmond, the Virginia city that was the capital of the South during the bloody conflict of 1861-65, is among the monuments that have been removed in recent months for representing the Confederates, supporters of slavery.

The statue was the target of anti-racism protests last year following the death of George Floyd, a black man killed by a white police officer in Minnesota. (I)