Mary Washington Monument Vandalized

On the night of July 26, 2025 in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Antifa vandals defaced the city’s monument to Mary Washington—mother of George Washington. The historic 1894 memorial was desecrated with a black spray-painted circled Ⓐ symbol of anarchism along with the word “Antifa.”

The criminal misdeed was first reported by Washington Heritage Museums (WHM), a nonprofit citizens group dedicated to preserving the historic 18th century properties in Fredericksburg. In 2023 the city gifted the WHM with the Mary Washington monument and the land it’s located on.

The WHM noted on its Facebook page that the monument was the very first to be “erected by women to honor a woman.” The group announced a “$1,500 reward for anyone in the Fredericksburg community who can provide information that leads to the arrest of the individual or individuals responsible for the graffiti.” The Fredericksburg Police Department is investigating the offense.

In addition, the non-profit added: “We also recognize that removing the paint from the monument in a nondestructive way can be both time-consuming and expensive. As such, we are humbly requesting donations from members of our community who are committed to the preservation and protection of the monument.”

The act of spray-painting anarchist graffiti on a historic American monument was an expression of scorn towards the United States and its people. The deed being aimed at the mother of George Washington—Father of the Nation, made the vandalism all the more disparaging.

I used AI to search the internet regarding this question: “Did the New York Times report the July 26, 2025 vandalism of the Mary Washington Monument?”  The answer was: “There is no indication that The New York Times reported on the July 26, 2025 vandalism of the Mary Washington Monument. The incident has been covered by local news sources, but not by The New York Times.”

Could it be any clearer? Why is the New York Times called the “newspaper of record” when it refuses to cover the story of anarchists desecrating the memorial to the mother of America’s Founding Father? There are some who still refer to the NYT as “The Gray Lady” because of its tradition of printing in black and white and for its reputation of “serious journalism.” What a joke.

Thankfully we have a free press in the US, so I asked AI if the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post covered the vandalism of the Mary Washington Monument. The reply was the same, the two vaunted news platforms have “not reported on the vandalism” though “multiple other outlets have covered the incident.” It’s not hyperbole to say the mainstream media is engaged in the erasure of history.

In America the recent phenomenon of defacing and tearing down historic monuments for political reasons didn’t begin with the Mary Washington Monument. I’ve tracked these incidents, and the earliest one I noted took place at the University of Virginia on Sept. 12, 2017. Students desecrated a bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson, who also happened to be the university’s founder.

The next incident occurred on Aug. 21, 2017 when anonymous leftists used sledgehammers to smash the inscription at the base of Baltimore’s 44-foot-tall obelisk dedicated to Christopher Columbus; the monument is 225 years-old. What followed was the proliferation of vandalism and destruction of statues representing America’s historic figures and events.

From 2019 to 2020 dozens of publicly displayed bronze statues were attacked. Sculptures of presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, William McKinley, and notables like Francis Scott Key, Frederick Douglass, Father Serra, and many more… were defaced, damaged, or destroyed.

On June 8, 2024, 75,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators went to Washington, D.C. to “Surround the White House” in protest against Israel fighting Hamas in Gaza. The facade of peaceful protest melted away when thousands of activists poured into Washington Circle and Lafayette Square to deface and ravage the publicly displayed historic statues found there.

The anti-Israel mob trashed the sculptures of George Washington, Andrew Jackson, and other notables in American history, by spray-painting them with slogans like Death 2 Israel, Death To AmeriKKKa, Kill Pigs, Intifada, and Glory to the Resistance.

The cataclysm of vandalizing historic monuments, is linked to the war on art devised by climate-alarmist groups. It all started in the UK when members of the “Just Stop Oil” organization began gluing themselves to the frames of priceless oil paintings in museums. Soon other extremists were throwing soup and even petroleum-based oil onto museum artworks.

It wasn’t a surprise when the eco-extremists merged with the “Free Palestine” cause. On March 8, 2024, a British radical from the “Palestine Action” group, destroyed a 110-year-old oil painting of Lord Arthur James Balfour on display at the University of Cambridge. The canvas was literally slashed to ribbons using a box cutter, as the destruction was video-taped by the group for propaganda purposes.

The attack on the Mary Washington Monument must be seen in this context, it’s the continuation of a leftwing political campaign to eradicate history. Furthermore, it’s a ruinous, anti-civilizational strategy.

On Aug. 25, 1789, Mary Washington died of breast cancer at her home in  Fredericksburg, Virginia. It’s the very home her son George had purchased for her in 1772, and the abode where she lived until her passing in 1789.

It’s said Mary is buried near the monument erected in her honor, or around the rock outcropping known as “Meditation Rock.” That’s where Mary prayed for her son George, who was then in the field as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army in the war of Independence from the British. Alas, the exact location of Mary’s final resting place is unknown.

It goes without saying that Mary’s death was deeply felt in 1789. Churches rang their bells in mourning and members of Congress wore black for thirty days after her death. She was laid to rest just six years after the wild colonials had won the American Revolutionary War.

In 1833 President Andrew Jackson laid the cornerstone for what was hoped to be a memorial for Mary Washington. The monument was only partially constructed and never completed. During the Civil War (1861-1865), what remained of the edifice was in ruins.

In 1889 the National Mary Washington Memorial Association (NMWMA) was founded in Washington, D.C. at the home of Amelia Waite, who was then wife of Morrison Waite… the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. Amelia Waite would become president of the Association.

In 1892 the NMWMA contracted the American sculptor and architectural designer William John Crawford (1856-1926) of Buffalo, New York, to create a sculpture that would commemorate Mary Washington.

Crawford delivered a 50-foot tall Barre granite obelisk that sat atop a 10-foot granite base. The front side of the plinth was engraved with raised relief lettering reading “Mary the Mother of Washington.” The reverse side was engraved with “Erected By Her Country-Women.” In 2025 this base would be covered with black spray-painted antifa graffiti.

During the annual meeting of the NMWMA on Feb. 24, 1894, Amelia Waite issued a report that contained the following words: “Mr. Crawford, the designer and builder of the monument, has shown a truly patriotic spirit in the work, putting not only his best skill but his whole heart into it.”

On May 10, 1894 William J. Crawford’s finished granite obelisk monument to Mary Washington was unveiled and dedicated before a huge crowd. The May 11 1894 edition of the Sacramento Daily Union reported “An Immense Throng” of thousands turned out for the event. The Daily Union declared:

“Governor O’Ferrall was present with his staff, together with two companies of the Richmond militia and the Alexandria Light Infantry, and Secretary Lamont ordered a company of cavalry from Fort Myer to be in attendance. The music was furnished by the Marine Band of Washington.”

None other than President Grover Cleveland (1885–89; 1893–97), Vice President Adlai Stevenson, and almost the entire President’s cabinet attended the unveiling. The crowd was reported to be so massive that the Richmond Light Infantry kept it back with bayoneted rifles. Senator John Daniel of Virginia delivered a speech that contained the following words:

“Our gratitude goes forth to our countrywomen who have so worthily achieved this work. Men attempted it, and left it half accomplished. The State and Federal Government alike contemplated, discussed, and then postponed it. Our noble women undertook it and it is done […] It was fitting, indeed, that your pious hands should rear the first monument on the earth erected by women to woman, and fitting, too, that it should bear the name of Mary… the mother of Washington.”

Of course, all of this means absolutely nothing to the anarchist vandals and the fraudulent journalists who are hunkered down in seclusion at the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. Yet, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution does guarantee the God given rights of freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. Now is the time for the citizen journalist.