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Bill Proposes Replacing NJ Civil War Hero Statue With Women's Suffragist Leader In Washington

KEARNY, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- New Jersey lawmakers want to replace a Civil War statue in the halls of the U.S. Capitol with a women's suffragist leader.

The suggested statue swap has triggered a debate in the Garden State.

Demure Protester
1912: Miss Alice Paul (1885 - 1977) an American suffragette, who broke up a Guildhall Meeting by shouting 'Vote for Women' through a broken skylight, is on board ship as she nears Philadelphia on her return home. She wrote the first draft of the Equal Rights Amendment. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Gen. Philip Kearny died while commanding troops during the Civil War. Alice Paul was instrumental in securing women the right to vote. Which should be honored in Washington?

Each state has two figures representing it at the National Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol.

A bill passed by New Jersey's Senate would remove Kearny and replace him with Paul. Assemblywoman Carol Murphy is sponsoring the bill in the Assembly. She calls Paul an unsung hero.

"She was one of the very first silent sentinels. She established the women's suffrage movement here in the United States. She fought very hard for the equal rights for women to vote, for all equal rights for women," Murphy told CBS2's Meg Baker.

But leaders in the town of Kearny want the war hero to stay right where he is.

"I just think it's disrespectful to move him to just put somebody else in," Kearny Town Council President Caroll Doyle said.

Historian William Styple says the American hero sacrificed his life to ensure the freedoms that all Americans have today.

The Battle of Chantilly (Battle of Ox Hill)
Major General Philip Kearny leads the charge of his 1st Division, III Corps, Army of Virginia troops against Confederate positions at the Battle of Chantilly ( also known as the Battle of Ox Hill) on 1 September 1862 during the Northern Virginia Campaign of the American Civil War at Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Kearny was killed in the engagement. Engraving from an original by John R.Chapin. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

"During the American Civil War, Kearny volunteered to command the New Jersey brigade. It was a firm belief of his to destroy slavery," he said.

Murphy suggested bringing the statue of Kearny home, but Kearny already has a statue of Kearny. It's located in front of the post office off Kearny Avenue. What gives the town pride is his representation in Washington.

Out of 100 statues at the Capitol, only nine are women.

You can visit the Alice Paul Institute in Mount Laurel in her former home in South Jersey.

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