General Augustus Pickens

General Augustus Pickens is credited as being the founder of the city of Riverdale in the TV show of the same name. As such, he is widely celebrated by the town's populace, complete with his own holiday that venerates him and the founding of Riverdale. However, this rosy picture is not the entire story, as Pickens is alleged to have gotten the land for Riverdale by slaughtering Native Americans that had once lived there, the descendants of whom would become the founders of the Southside Serpents.

history
Little of General Augustus Pickens is known (especially since he is long dead by the time of the show and is a historical figure), but he apparently founded Riverdale alongside the original members of the Blossom family. The latter desired land they could build off of and make a fortune from, and Pickens assisted them in this by finding a place for them to set up. He chose lands already inhabited by Native Americans named the Uktena. One twelve-minute long massacre later, and the Uktena had been all but completely wiped out, the few survivors going on to found what would eventually become the Southside Serpents.

With the massacre complete, the land was now the Blossoms to do with as they wished, and so they began their many business ventures, from syrup to saloons, and eventually, Riverdale as it now is came into being. For his part, Pickens got away with murder due to those who knew the truth choosing to bury it and keep it buried, allowing Pickens to enjoy a posthumous reputation as a revered town founder, rather than the butcher he actually was...at least, until Jughead Jones was told the true story when interviewing one of the founders of the Southside Serpents, who's grandfather had been one of the few survivors of the Uktena massacre.

trivia

 * The story of Pickens and his actions and the resulting clash between those who remember him well and those who despise him and wish for him to not be celebrated (complete with desecration of the monument), are strongly analogous to recent real-world controversies regarding monuments to leaders in the Confederacy during the Civil War (men who's monuments many have sought to have removed), as well as Christopher Columbus (who is widely celebrated for his "discovering" North America but also widely hated for his violent acts against Native Americans). As in those cases, Pickens is a man revered by many but despised by others for his violent actions.