9. The Southern Cross of Honor
In 1899 the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), then holding membership of approximately 17,000, established an award which only veterans of the Confederate military could wear. The award consisted of a cross suspended from a bar, without a cloth ribbon. It was inscribed with the Confederate motto Deo Vindice (God our Vindicator) and an image of the Confederate Battle Flag. The award was granted to eligible Confederate veterans through the UDC, the first being issued in 1900. It continued to be awarded until 1951, when Confederate Admiral Raphael Semmes received the medal posthumously.
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs continued to allow the award to be displayed on the gravestones of Confederate veterans into the 21st century, and supplies stones so marked as replacement markers for Confederate dead in national cemeteries. The medal was never officially authorized for wear on the uniforms of the United States military, though several former Confederate cavalrymen who served in the United States Army during the Indian Wars of the late 19th century wore theirs, a sign of defiance against the senior officers of the “Yankee” army in which they served.