Mayor Catherine Pugh knew she wanted to rid the city of its Confederate monuments, she says. She just wasn’t sure how, and how to time it.

Her answer came suddenly early this week, Pugh said during a press conference at City Hall this morning. On Monday, she spoke with City Council President Jack Young, then with his 14 council colleagues. She said she determined that “with the climate of this nation, that I think it’s very important we move quickly and quietly…and so that’s what I did.”

Pugh made her decision on Tuesday morning, and sent out the order for overnight removals of Baltimore’s four controversial statues memorializing Confederate generals, soldiers and families, and one notorious Supreme Court chief justice. All four monuments came down between 11:30 p.m. and 5:30 a.m.

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