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Congress to vote on removing Confederate statue of General Lee at Antietam Battlefield

The Maryland Congressman who introduced legislation to remove the Robert E. Lee statue at the battlefield said he's received hate mail, but expects the bill to pass.

ANTIETAM, Md. — The national firestorm over Confederate monuments is now spreading to literal Civil War battlefields, as Congress is expected to vote this week to uproot the Robert E. Lee statue at Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland.

The Battle of Antietam was the bloodiest day in American history, where Union troops finally fought Gen. Robert E. Lee and his rebels to a draw.

In Western Maryland, where some people are still flying "Make America Great Again" flags for President Trump weeks after the election, a rebel millionaire erected a statue in 2003 to the man who led an armed uprising against the United States. President Trump, and many of his supporters, have fiercely resisted removing Confederate monuments.

RELATED: Lee statue in Richmond will stay put until lawsuit resolved

In 2005, the Park Service bought the small plot of land -- and the statue -- from William F. Chaney, who said he was trying to provide a balance at Antietam between tributes to Confederate and Union troops. After protesters repeatedly defaced the statue, the Park Service fenced it off and wrote it was helpless to change the statue, "unless directed by legislation."

Rep. Anthony Brown (D-Maryland) said the House is all but certain to approve that legislation this week. 

"It is important that this country make a firm decision that we no longer honor and glorify the men, the Confederate soldiers, who were traitors at the time, and represented division and hatred in the defense of slavery," Brown said. "Understanding, studying history is different from celebrating historical participants." 

Brown said Lee never wanted to celebrate a lost cause. 

"If they were successful, you and I wouldn't be talking today," he said. "I wouldn't be a member of Congress." 

Brown said he got hate mail when he first proposed removing the statue, but he thinks the debate has shifted in the last three years. He said he expects his bill to remove the Lee statue will pass on an overwhelming, bipartisan vote, and predicts it will pass the Republican-controlled Senate, too.

There are several other Confederate monuments at Antietam and at Civil War battlefields across the region. It's unclear if this fight will spread. 

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