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Markus Krueger watched with interest as the controversy over whether to take down Confederate monuments roiled the South.
A self-described Civil War nerd and program director for the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County, Krueger says he thought, "Do you know who deserves a statute more than Robert E. Lee? Felix Battles," an African-American who fought for the Union Army and settled in Moorhead shortly after the town formed in the 1870s.
So Krueger decided to build a statute to him, and local residents have enthusiastically put up the money for the idea.
"Fargo-Moorhead is a lot more multiethnic and multicultural than we have a reputation for being," Krueger said. He noted that the community has opened its doors to refugees since after World War II and now has a sizable population of Kurdish, Sudanese and Bosnian residents.
Mark Peihl, a senior archivist with the county's historical society, had been...