Several Confederate memorials remain in the St. Louis area

The two memorials, one in Missouri and one in Illinois mark the deaths of Confederate soldiers held as prisoners in a Union prison in Alton, IL.

The Confederate Cemetery in Alton is run by the Veterans Administration and consists of a large monument inscribed with the names of the soldiers.

In West Alton, a newer and smaller monument, also inscribed with the names, sits across the Mississippi River. It was erected by the Army Corps of Engineers, near the site of the former lock and dam.

Memorials like this are viewed as being less controversial than the one in Forest Park which was removed earlier this year.

"Monuments that are simply marking and mourning people who died for the Confederacy are honest and even appropriate," says Michael Allen, who specializes in Cultural Geography at Washington University.