The monument was a bronze sculpture (not solid) of a male armed and uniformed Confederate soldier atop a granite base.

[3] The statue was pulled down and severely damaged by protestors on August 14, 2017, as part of nationwide demonstrations that followed the fatal attack on counterprotestors at Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The Durham City-County Committee on Confederate Monuments and Memorials[10] was created in response to the statue's removal and first convened in April 2018 to issue recommendations on what to do with the remaining base within the confines of this law, as well to catalog and issue recommendations on other Confederate memorials in the area.

The proposal would leave the statue's pedestal in place and add outdoor markers honoring Union soldiers and enslaved people."

Durham County maintains that the Cultural History Artifact Management and Patriotism Act of 2015 does not apply, since the law does not address damaged monuments.