Mattie Clyburn Rice (September 15, 1922 – September 1, 2014) was an African-American member of the

United Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, ...

. As the daughter of a

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

Veteran, she is considered a "Real Daughter of the Confederacy" by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and is the second African-American woman to be recognized as such. At the time of her induction into the United Daughters of the Confederacy, she was one of twenty-three women who were living daughters of Confederate veterans. Rice successfully campaigned for her father and nine other African-American men, one

freedman A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom a ...

and eight enslaved, to be recognized for their

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

service with a

historical marker A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other ...

Monroe, North Carolina Monroe is a city in and the county seat of Union County, North Carolina, United States. The population increased from 32,797 in 2010 to 34,551 in 2020. It is within the rapidly growing Charlotte metropolitan area. Monroe has a council-manager f ...

Biography

Rice was born on September 15, 1922, in

Marshville, North Carolina Marshville is a town in Union County, North Carolina, Union County, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 2,402 at the 2010 census. Marshville is known as the birthplace of country music singer Randy Travis. Geography Marshville is lo ...

to a young mother and an elderly father. When Rice was born, her father was already seventy-four years old. Her father, Weary Clyburn, was a former slave who served in the 12th South Carolina Infantry Regiment of the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. According to his military pension record, Clyburn fought in the

Battle of Port Royal The Battle of Port Royal was one of the earliest amphibious operations of the American Civil War, in which a United States Navy fleet and United States Army expeditionary force captured Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, between Savannah, Geor ...

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina Hilton Head Island, sometimes referred to as simply Hilton Head, is a South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry resort town and barrier island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is northeast of Savannah, Georgia, and southwest of C ...

, carrying his slavemaster out of the field on his shoulder and later he performed personal service for General Robert E. Lee. Clyburn was born enslaved on the Uriah Plantation in

Lancaster County, South Carolina Lancaster County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 96,016, Its county seat is Lancaster, which has an urban population of 23,979. The county was created in 1785. Lancaster Coun ...

, owned by Thomas Frank Clyburn. According to historian Kevin Levin, Rice's father did not serve willingly but was forced to serve in the army due to his being a slave. According to the

North Carolina Museum of History The North Carolina Museum of History is a history museum located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. It is an affiliate through the Smithsonian Affiliations program. The museum is a part of the Division of State History Museums, Office of Archives ...

, Rice was one of the last living people in North Carolina to be the daughter of a former slave. Rice successfully campaigned for her father, and nine other African-American men, one freedman and eight enslaved, to be recognized for their Civil War service with a

. She grew up during the

Jim Crow Era The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

, when

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

was the law in North Carolina. When Rice found her father's Confederate military pension application from 1926, in the State Archives of North Carolina, she began receiving calls from various Civil War groups. Upon discovering that Rice was a "Real Daughter of the Confederacy", a daughter of a Confederate veteran, Gail Crosby invited her to join the

. Rice is the second African-American Real Daughter of the Confederacy to be recognized by the organization. Two of Rice's daughters also became UDC members. She was awarded the 2012–2013 DeWitt Smith Jobe Award for Best Division Newsletter by ''The Carolina Confederate''. She died from congestive heart failure on September 1, 2014, at her home in

Archdale, North Carolina Archdale is a city in Guilford and Randolph counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located 15 miles southwest of Greensboro, it is part of the Greensboro-High Point Metropolitan Statistical Area of the Piedmont Triad metro region. The ...

. Her ashes were buried at her father's grave in Hillcrest Cemetery in Monroe. A colorguard from the

Sons of Confederate Veterans The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is an American neo-Confederate nonprofit organization of male descendants of Confederate soldiers The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the militar ...

was present at her funeral. The North Carolina and South Carolina State Presidents of the United Daughters of the Confederacy spoke at her funeral.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, Mattie Clyburn 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American women 1922 births 2014 deaths Members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy People from Marshville, North Carolina

Biography

See also

References