The Albert Pike Memorial is a public artwork in Washington, D.C., erected in 1901, and partially demolished in 2020 by protestors responding to the murder of George Floyd.

It honors Albert Pike (1809–1891), a senior officer of the Confederate States Army as well as a poet, lawyer, and influential figure in the Scottish Rite of freemasonry.

[3][4][5] During the Civil War, Pike's knowledge of Native Americans led to him being commissioned a brigadier general in the Confederate Army.

He rewrote and interpreted Masonic rituals and compiled the Southern Jurisdiction's first philosophical document, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, an influential book in the organization.

Trentanove was an acquaintance of Pike and had recently received praise for his sculpture of Jacques Marquette housed in the National Statuary Hall Collection.

[8][9] Prior to the cornerstone ceremony, several members of the SCJC, including Third Assistant Secretary of State Thomas W. Cridler, gathered at the House of the Temple at 433 3rd Street NW (current site of the Tax Court Building),[10] where Pike had lived, to reminisce.

Following a musical performance by Haley's Washington Band, grand commanders of the SCJC, the Scottish Rite's Northern Jurisdiction, and Royal Order of Scotland all released the halyard holding the U.S. flag that covered the memorial.

President of the District Commission H. B. F. McFarland accepted the memorial on behalf of the American people: Although Albert Pike was a soldier in the Civil War, this statue will commemorate him rather as a victor in the honorable rivalries of peace.

[3] For many years, members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy would hold ceremonies at the site on Pike's birthday and Masons would decorate the memorial, though the latter still happens on occasion.

[7] Pike's memorial has often stirred controversy throughout its history, beginning with the GAR's lobbying efforts against its erection to protesters arguing it honors a traitor and racist.

[18][19] Michael Farquhar, a former writer and editor at The Washington Post, called Pike a "blustering blowhard, a feeble poet, a laughable hypocrite, a shameless jingoist, a notoriously insubordinate military officer, and yes, a bigot with genocidal inclinations".

[19] John W. Boettjer, then managing editor of the Scottish Rite Journal, wrote a rebuttal op-ed in The Washington Post in defense of the memorial and pointed out that only an Act of Congress could result in the statue's removal.

[20] Boettjer stated: "[Pike] received a full pardon from the federal government for his service in the Civil War as a Confederate general.

He also claimed a LaRouche video promised the Middle East conflict would be solved and World War III averted if the statue was removed.

John F. Doyle, a retired judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, said Pike was responsible for Native American casualties during the Civil War and their subsequent loss of land.

"[25] Following the 2017 Unite the Right rally, there was renewed interest in many cities and states to remove Confederate statues and memorials from public land.

[26][27] Local government officials, including some members of the council, Attorney General for the District of Columbia Karl Racine, and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, asked the NPS to remove the memorial.

[30][32] On July 2, 2020, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the arrest and charging of a man who had helped destroy the Pike statue by pulling it from its base and setting it on fire.

The DOJ's complaint alleged that the man had been captured on video dousing the statue with a flammable liquid, igniting it as it lay on the ground, and using the fire to light a cigarette.

The DOJ also charged the man with being among a crowd of rioters that on June 22 had unsuccessfully attempted to topple Clark Mills' 1852 bronze equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square in President's Park, directly north of the White House.

[33][34][35] The Pike memorial included the only outdoor sculpture in Washington, D.C. honoring a Confederate general, although he was dressed as a civilian, not a soldier.

His right arm was extended, and with the left hand, he held a book, thought to be his work Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry.