A portrait of Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart has been removed from a Patrick County courtroom in a town named after the rebel general.

Judge Martin F. Clark issued a statement on Tuesday announcing that he removed the portrait from the Circuit Court's courtroom in Stuart on Aug. 19, the Martinsville Bulletin reports Clark removes Stuart?s portrait - Martinsville Bulletin: News

"The courtroom should be a place every litigant and spectator finds fair and utterly neutral," Clark wrote in the statement. "In my estimation, the portrait of a uniformed Confederate general — and a slave

owner himself — does not comport with that essential standard."

Clark wrote that he is aware his decision will upset many residents of the county, particularly given that the courthouse is located in a town named in Stuart's honor.

"It is my goal — and my duty as a judge — to provide a trial setting that is perceived by all participants as fair, neutral and without so much as a hint of prejudice," Clark wrote. "Confederate symbols are,

simply put, offensive to African-Americans, and this reaction is based on fact and clear, straightforward history."

Confederate general's portrait removed from Va. courtroom - Capital Gazette