On Saturday, the National Park Service returned the statue of Brigadier General Albert Pike to its home after being in storage for over five years.

The only statue of a Confederate general in the nation’s capital was pulled down by ropes and chains and then lit on fire on Juneteenth 2020 by demonstrators who were protesting the murder of George Floyd.

The bronze statue of Pike, which was dedicated in 1901, was authorized by Congress and honors the leader’s more than 30 years as the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient and Accepted Rite of Scottish Freemasonry.

Over the years, members of the D.C. government tried to have the statute removed, including in 1992, when the D.C. Council petitioned the federal government.

The statue’s return to the Judiciary Square neighborhood in the Dis

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