Baltimore removed four monuments to the pro-slavery Civil War Confederacy before dawn on Wednesday, working quickly so the city could avoid protests like the one organized by white nationalists that turned deadly in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The statues, including one of Gen. Robert E. Lee and another of Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, were taken off their bases in Wyman Park Dell, beside the Baltimore Museum of Art, and carried away on a flatbed truck.

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh said she and the city council decided to remove the monuments "quickly and quietly."