Confederate statue vandalized again - and also one outside the downtown Louisville library

The statue of a Confederate soldier in Cherokee Triangle has been vandalized again. And this time around, so has another statue outside the downtown Louisville Free Public Library.

The John B. Castleman statue and the George Dennison Prentice statue outside the library were found vandalized with orange paint Wednesday morning.

The Castleman statue was vandalized around 11 p.m. Tuesday, said Louisville Metro Police spokesman Dwight Mitchell. "Apparently, a can of orange paint was thrown on the statue," he said. "The LMPD 5th Division is in the process of trying to identify the individual(s) responsible."

Castleman — a Confederate soldier who later became a brigadier general in the U.S. Army — helped create the city's park system. Prentice, founder and editor of the Louisville Journal in the mid-1800s, has been associated with the pro-slavery, anti-foreigner movement during the 1850s and 1860s.

The Castleman statue was first vandalized with orange paint in August following the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. A local company cleaned the statue for $8,200 this summer.

Read this: See the locations of Kentucky’s Civil War statues, monuments and memorials

Mayor Greg Fischer on Wednesday chastised the vandalism as an unhelpful and ineffective way to express an opinion.

"In a diverse community like ours, people are going to have differing viewpoints, but vandalism is not the way to share those views," Fischer said in a statement. "It is costly, divisive and ultimately ineffective since it basically is a one-way conversation."

An advisory committee on the city's public art is scheduled to meet 5 to 6:30 p.m. Feb. 7 in the auditorium of the library's main branch to discuss the future of the artwork in the city, which includes the Castleman statue.

"I'd ask citizens to share your views in public, with each other, through opportunities like this, including an online option," Fischer said. "Let’s talk with each other, not at each other."

Background:

The fate of Louisville's Confederate statue is in the hands of this small group

'My grandmother is rolling over in her grave': Castleman relatives speak out

5 things to know about John B. Castleman

Constructed in 1913, the 15-foot bronze statue has drawn controversy over Castleman's time in the Confederate army, which reports suggest he joined at age 19. He served under John Hunt Morgan, the notorious leader of Morgan's Raiders.

Castleman helped found the American Saddlebred Horse Association in Louisville and went on to be a brigadier general in the U.S. Army.

A 1910 Courier Journal article described friends and admirers who were interested in erecting an "equestrian statue of him in one of the parks of the city, in commemoration of the great service given by the General in the establishment of the Louisville park system."

The original plaque, still attached to the monument, recognizes him as a noble patriot, gallant soldier, useful citizen and accomplished gentleman, without mentioning city parks.

Upon his death, his casket was draped with an American flag and a Confederate flag, per his wishes, according to a 1918 Courier Journal article.

Prentice was known for writing anti-immigration and anti-catholic editorials. According to The Kentucky Encyclopedia, he promoted Kentucky's policy of neutrality before the Civil War. Though he became a staunch Unionist, he was at odds with the Lincoln administration over the emancipation policy.

According to The Encyclopedia of Louisville, his editorials fed into the bigotry and nationalistic paranoia of the Know-Nothing Party. Murders, beatings and house burnings in the German and Irish areas of Louisville culminated in the Bloody Monday riot on Aug. 6, 1855, in which at least 22 people died.

His statue originally sat in front of the Courier Journal building but was moved to a spot in front of the Louisville Public Library in 1914.

Reach Reporter Thomas Novelly at 502-582-4465 or by email at tnovelly@courier-journal.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomNovelly.