12. The UDC erected hundreds of statues honoring the Confederacy across the South
As the nature of its history was revised in Southern schools in the early 20th century, the UDC, as well as other groups commemorating the Confederacy and the Lost Cause, erected statues across the South. Statues to honor the Confederate military appeared on town squares, in parks, in and in front of courthouses and entertainment halls, and alongside roads and streets. Between the turn of the century and the 1920s, hundreds of such memorials were erected, with statues depicting soldiers under arms defiantly facing to the north. Unveilings were social affairs, where noted speakers reinforced the myths of the Lost Cause to students who learned of it in their classrooms.
In Jacksonville, Florida, a memorial to the women of the Confederacy was erected, bearing in its inscription the words, “Those noblewomen who sacrificed their all upon their country’s altar”. Similar noble sentiments appeared on most of the memorials, stressing sacrifice and defense of a cause, with no mention of the true causes of the Civil War. The Confederate Monument of Eastman, in Dodge County, Georgia, was inscribed, “No Truer Patriots Ever Adorned The History Of Any Nation”. The Wilkes County Confederate Monument in Georgia includes in its inscription, “They Fought to Maintain a Just Union; To Defend Constitutional Government; To Perpetuate American Liberties”.