They commemorate soldiers who died in the largest war in American history, and were mostly funded by veterans.

They largely went up in two waves, in the 1890s and the 1960s, as explicit symbols of white supremacy. They were not erected shortly after the war to commemorate soldiers. They falsely evoke a time right after the war when Southerners held great respect for confederate "heroes," but that's misleading. I was surprised to learn this too.

http://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/a12015570/... https://www.google.com/amp/jezebel.com/confederate-monuments...

I don't find these articles terribly convincing. It's typical for monuments to be built decades after the event they commemorate. The world war 2 memorial in DC wasn't built until 2004.

I find it difficult to believe that it's just a coincidence that most of these monuments were erected during the eras of Jim Crow, and then the heyday of the KKK, and later still during the Civil Rights era.

There is basically no correlation whatsoever: https://i.redditmedia.com/IE4gFFzTylcD63F5V9xixn0Nh4ESSuWVoK...

Bollocks: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/08/the-real-story...

Like I said, they celebrate traitors and terrorists, and they were mostly erected by racist terrorists later on during the days of Jim Crow, the KKK and the Civil Rights movement.

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/08/the-real-story...