"Moses Ezekiel's beautiful and historic sculpture -- often referred to as 'The Reconciliation Monument' -- will be rightfully be returned to Arlington National Cemetery near his burial site," Hegseth wrote on X.

He did not mention the piece's other name -- the "Confederate Memorial" -- which was unveiled in 1914.

"It never should have been taken down by woke lemmings. Unlike the Left, we don't believe in erasing American history -- we honor it," the Pentagon chief wrote.

The bronze portions of the memorial were removed from Arlington -- the hallowed final resting place of more than 400,000 veterans and their dependents -- and put into storage in 2023. The granite base was left in place to avoid disturbing nearby graves.

The memorial featured a "nostalgic, mythologized vision of the Confederacy" and included "highly sanitized depictions of slavery," according to the Arlington Cemetery website, which also noted that it included a Latin inscription that "construes the South's secession as a noble 'Lost Cause.'"

Nationwide protests against racism and police brutality that were sparked by the 2020 murder of George Floyd reignited calls for the removal of statues honoring the Confederacy, which was defeated in the 1861-1865 US Civil War.

Advocates also called for the renaming of military installations named for figures from the secessionist South.

The 2021 defense budget required the establishment of a commission to plan for the removal of Confederate-linked "names, symbols, displays, monuments, or paraphernalia" from Defense Department property, and gave the secretary three years to complete its recommendations.

The process -- including changing a series of military base names that honored Confederate officers -- was carried out under Hegseth's predecessor Lloyd Austin, the country's first Black defense secretary.

Hegseth has already brought back the original Confederate-linked monikers to several bases by renaming them in honor of US troops who had the same last names as the secessionist officers the bases were originally named for.

The Pentagon chief's announcement on the return of the memorial to Arlington came a day after the US National Park Service said it would reinstall a statue in Washington of a Confederate general that was torn down amid 2020 protests.