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Missouri Division United Daughters of the Confederacy®
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UDC Monument - Higginsville, Mo |
Beneath the sinking lion is the seal of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, with its motto from Kipling's "Recessional". Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet; lest we forget, lest we forget. On the back of the monument is the legend: Beginnings of the Confederate Home and the History of the Memorial to our Confederate Dead. The caring began when Confederate veterans, destitute from economic
hardships of the post-war years, needed care and housing. In the years
just after the war, local charitable and memorial organizations tried
to meet these needs, but it was not until 1890 that the Confederate veterans
organized nationally under the leadership of General John B. Gordon and
southern women began to form auxiliary units in association with the United
Confederate Veterans Camps to fulfill this need. |
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On April 30, 1886, General Gordon, standing on the rear platform of a train at West Point, Georgia, introduced Varina Anne (Winnie) Davis as the 'Daughter of the Confederacy.' There was spontaneous approval of the appropriateness of the name, and the women of Missouri who had organized in order to raise funds for a home for disabled veterans to be erected at Higginsville, chose this same descriptive name for their organization. They were the FIRST to be called 'Daughters of the Confederacy.' In 1900, a committee of the Missouri United Daughters of the Confederacy contracted the sculptor, Mr. M. H. Rice of Kansas City to carve this monument. The monument would mark the final end to a march through life for these honored veterans. Rice chose Barr granite for the magnificent piece which cost $5,000.00. On June 2, 1906, as many as 10,000 people assembled to witness the dedicatory ceremonies. After the unveiling ceremony thee stood before the admiring crowd, one of the most masterfully significant monuments raised to the Confederacy. Its weight is 60 tons with a height of 18' with a foundation that extends 3' into the earth. The four nine-foot columns each weighing 1,500 pounds sustaining in their up-reach the four gabled granite roof. The great lion was carved from a block of granite weighing four tons with the power of the monument centering on this lion. There is a cruel shaft plunged into the back of the lion, from which the life blood of the monarch of beasts bubbles. All that is in death shall serve to keep that which he defended with life. The dying lion sinks with his head and one strong paw in protecting power over the seal of the Confederacy. The Confederate soldier, so like a colossal lion mortally wounded, clung to his cause with sublime courage and devotion and when his strength ebbed out in death, and in life he remained the monarch in courage, and the mother in devotion. But their names shall never be forgot while Remember us they say,
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