After 81 years, Gen. Robert E. Lee's patrol along Turtle Creek has ended.

The statue of the Civil War commander astride his horse Traveller and accompanied by a young soldier was removed quietly Thursday amid a noisy national debate over Confederate monuments.

A crane truck had arrived about 4 p.m. at Lee Park, near Lemmon Avenue in Oak Lawn, after squad cars blocked ramps on Interstate 35E to ensure its safe travel to Turtle Creek Boulevard.

On Sunday night, a tractor-trailer carrying a crane from Houston to remove the statue had been involved in a deadly collision just south of downtown Dallas. That crane was damaged and could not complete the job.

Officials had trouble finding another crane suited to the job, with much of the necessary equipment in Houston devoted to recovery efforts after Hurricane Harvey.

But by about 6:30 p.m. Thursday, all logistical -- and legal -- challenges were overcome, and the 14-foot-tall statue was lifted from its pedestal.

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Thirty-six-year-old Chris Reid, a delivery driver, came by to observe the historic removal.

For a long time, he had not known what the statue commemorated. But once he learned it was a likeness of the Confederate general, he wanted to see it removed.

"This man shed his blood, sweat and tears to make sure my ancestors stayed enslaved," said Reid, who is black. "I can't be happy about that."

He lives in Oak Cliff but works near Lee Park, and he said he wasn't even willing to discuss the matter with people who cared deeply about preserving the statue.

1 / 15People watch crew members work to remove the Robert E. Lee statue at Robert E. Lee Park in Dallas, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017.(Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer) 2 / 15Workers prepare for the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee at a public park in Dallas, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017. (LM Otero / AP) 3 / 15Crew members work to remove the Robert E. Lee statue at Robert E. Lee Park in Dallas, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017. (Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer) 4 / 15Marian Sims (left) and her granddaughter Peyton Dawson, 7, taking pictures of the Robert E. Lee statue, are among many people show up at Robert E. Lee Park when crew members work to remove the statue in Dallas, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017.(Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer) 5 / 15Crew members work to remove the Robert E. Lee statue at Robert E. Lee Park in Dallas, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017. (Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer) 6 / 15Frank Darbo holds a sign as crew members work to remove the Robert E. Lee statue in the background at Robert E. Lee Park in Dallas, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017.(Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer) 7 / 15Workers cut the Robert E. Lee statue off of its base for its removal at Robert E. Lee Park in Dallas on Sept. 14, 2017. (Nathan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer) 8 / 15Lisa Grasso, right, and her husband Randy Grasso hold up signs while crew members work to remove the Robert E. Lee statue at Robert E. Lee Park in Dallas, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017. Crews arranged by Dallas officials removed the statue from its pedestal Thursday and carted it away from the park.(Jae S. Lee / AP) 9 / 15People watch the Robert E. Lee statue being carried on a truck at Robert E. Lee Park in Dallas, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017.(Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer) 10 / 15The Robert E. Lee statue is put in the back of a trailer truck at Robert E. Lee Park in Dallas, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017. (Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer) 11 / 15The Robert E. Lee statue is carried on a truck as people watch the statue at Robert E. Lee Park in Dallas, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017. Crews arranged by Dallas officials removed the statue from its pedestal Thursday and carted it away from the park.(Jae S. Lee / AP) 12 / 15Workers harness the Robert E. Lee statue to its trailer for its removal at Robert E. Lee Park in Dallas on Sept. 14, 2017. (Nathan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer) 13 / 15Motorcycle officers wait to escort a truck carrying the Robert E. Lee statue at Robert E. Lee Park on Turtle Creek Boulevard in Dallas, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017.(Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer) 14 / 15People take pictures of a truck carrying the Robert E. Lee statue from Katy Trail at Robert E. Lee Park in Dallas, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017. (Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer) 15 / 15The Robert E. Lee statue is given a police escort after its removal from a public park in Dallas, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017. In an unannounced move, a large crane was brought through the city by a police escort to Lee Park, where it lifted the large statue from its pedestal late Thursday afternoon. (Nathan Hunsinger / AP)

Others standing nearby, who declined to give their full names, said they were sad to see the monument go. They said the sculpture had earned its place in Dallas history.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt unveiled the statue in June 1936, praising Lee as "one of the greatest American Christians and one of our greatest American gentlemen."

Frank Darbo, 40, was among those who came Thursday to share opinions on the statue's fate. His hand-painted sign made his plain: "The radical left is destroying American History."

"I listened to both sides of the argument," he said. "I think both sides do have valid points. What I'm afraid of is that it doesn't stop with Confederate statues. Next it goes to George Washington, Abe Lincoln. Everybody. What this is really about is a small group of people on the radical left, the alt-left, they're pushing for this. And it won't stop."

Darbo and another man said erecting a statue nearby honoring boxing champion Muhammad Ali would have been better than removing Lee.

The city planned to transport the statue to an undisclosed location. A Confederate monuments task force is expected to recommend a new permanent home for the sculpture.

The removal came after pro-statue callers inundated the offices of City Council member Jennifer Staubach Gates and Mayor Mike Rawlings.

A conservative group had implored callers to express their opposition to the council's decision directly to Gates and Rawlings. But neither of them alone had the power to halt the removal.

The council voted nearly unanimously this month to remove the sculpture immediately, but then a federal judge granted a temporary injunction against removal.

Although that order was dissolved a day later, further delays followed.

Before and after the injunction, workers found it would be difficult to dislodge the statue because they lacked the original plans showing how it had been mounted to the base.

But the chief conservator tasked with the removal remained confident.

"It's beautifully engineered," said Michael van Enter of van Enter Studio. "But everything can be removed."

Thursday's removal upstaged a demonstration planned this weekend at the park.

The demonstrators, who call themselves This Is Texas Freedom Force, have said they will still gather at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Police, who were at the park in force Thursday, have promised a major presence during the protest, too.

Concerns about security have run throughout the planning for the statue's removal.

City Manager T.C. Broadnax said he was told some crane companies had turned down the job because of worries about threats, and the equipment at Thursday's removal had its license plates and company logos hidden.

Dayna Roberts and her 16-year-old daughter, Gabrielle, were among those choosing sides around the statue Thursday.

Roberts, who is black, said she hoped the sculpture would be replaced with something all people could enjoy. Lee "definitely didn't unite us," she said.

Gabrielle said she found it "interesting that we've venerated this man who has nothing to do with Dallas."

She rejected the idea that removing the statue would erase history.

"Like anyone is ever going to forget Robert E. Lee, ever," she said.