Important Monuments to the UDC

Important Monuments to the UDC

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Q3. Why monuments were important to the UDC were and what purpose did they fulfil? how and why were children so central to the UDC’s monument building efforts?

The UDC’s significant role was the preservation and endorsement of the memories of civil war veterans. The Confederate had to preserve and enlighten their culture to the Southern youths, and one of the main symbolic visuals was by the construction of monuments. Monuments were remarkable in the conversion of Confederate traditions and ideals to the white Southern children as they were special symbols of lessons the Daughters firmly believed should be learned. Most of the monuments had a set place in courthouse lawns or town squares public places. Bodies of civil war soldiers that were exhumed from the battlefields were reburied in designated cemeteries and honored with monuments. With these monuments, people had a place to grieve and remember the dead, and it also helped outline one’s accomplishment. The success of the Daughters with the establishment of monuments at the local level it piloted them to also raising money for the needy.

Although controversy stroke early on whether to work with children, the daughters believed that it was vital that they represent the general organization. It was until 1917 that the UDC organized the children into the organization. To reduce the cost of the construction of the monuments, UDC members had to incorporate both men and children in the efforts. Mills and Simpsons (2003) give deep insights into how the children helped pull the Jefferson Davis Monument. The Daughters distributed library books to the public schools for the white children; they concerted their efforts in educating the whit children to carry on their Confederate traditions (Cox 1997). The Daughters understood the importance of their works spreading everywhere, from texts to public culture. With younger brains learning things more efficiently, the UDC instilled the importance of political, social, and cultural traditions of the Confederacy.

The UDC vied for was to ensure that all generations would honor and uphold the cultural values of the Confederate. Children were the most critical persons in the preservation of confederate culture. The UDC also involved children so that they may know to learn how the system worked and be patriotic to the course

References

Cox, K. L. (1997). Women, the Lost Cause, and the New South: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the transmission of Confederate culture, 1894-1919.

Mills, C., & Simpson, P. H. (2003). Monuments to the Lost Cause: Women, art, and the landscapes of Southern memory. Univ. of Tennessee Press.