The United Confederate Veterans (UCV, or simply Confederate Veterans) was an

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

veterans' organization A veterans' organization, also known as an , is an organization composed of persons who served in a country's Military, armed forces, especially those who served in the armed forces during a period of war. The organization's concerns include Vete ...

headquartered in

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Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. It was organized on June 10, 1889, by ex-

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...

s and

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s of the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...

as a merger between the Louisiana Division of the Veteran Confederate States Cavalry Association; N. B. Forrest Camp of

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; Tennessee Division of the Veteran Confederate States Cavalry Association; Tennessee Division of Association of Confederate Soldiers; Benevolent Association of Confederate Veterans of

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, Louisiana; Confederate Association of Iberville Parish, Louisiana; Eighteenth Louisiana; Adams County (

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

) Veterans' Association; Louisiana Division of the Army of Tennessee; and Louisiana Division of the Army of Northern Virginia.Hattaway, 1971, p. 214. The U.S. equivalent of the UCV was the

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History

Background

There had been numerous local veterans associations in the

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, many of which became part of the UCV. The organization proliferated throughout the 1890s, culminating with 1,555 camps at the 1898 reunion. The next few years marked the zenith of UCV membership, lasting until 1903 or 1904 when veterans started to die off and the organization gradually declined.

Purpose

The UCV outlined its purposes and structure in a written constitution based on military lines. Members holding appropriate UCV "ranks" officered and staffed echelons of command from General Headquarters at the top to local camps (companies) at the bottom. Their declared purpose was emphatically nonmilitary – to foster "social, literary, historical, and benevolent" ends.Hattaway, 1971, p. 215. According to Paul H. Buck in his Pulitzer-Prize winning history of the reconciliation of North and South, educator Jabez L. M. Curry played a major role in promoting reunification of the sections. He told the 1896 UCV annual convention that their organization was not formed, "in malice or in mischief, in disaffection, or in rebellion, nor to keep alive sectional hates, nor to awaken revenge for defeat, nor to kindle disloyalty to the Union." Rather their "recognition of the glorious deeds of our comrades is perfectly consistent with loyalty to the flag and devotion to the Constitution and the resulting Union." The convention agreed with him and formally resolved the Confederate veteran has: "returned to the Union as an equal, and he remains in the Union as a friend. With no humble apologies, no unmanly servility, no petty spite, no sullen treachery, he is a cheerful, frank citizen of the United States, accepting the present, trusting the future, and proud of the past." The UCV sponsored '' Florida's Tribute to the Women of the Confederacy'' (1915).

Reunions

The national organization assembled annually in a general convention and social reunion presided over by the Commander-in-Chief. These annual reunions served the UCV as an aid in achieving its goals. Convention cities made elaborate preparations and tried to put on bigger events than the previous hosts. The gatherings continued to be held long after the membership peak had passed, and despite fewer veterans surviving, they gradually grew in attendance, length, and splendor. Numerous veterans brought family and friends along, further swelling the crowds. Many Southerners considered the conventions significant social occasions. Perhaps thirty thousand veterans and another fifty thousand visitors attended each of the mid- and late-1890 reunions, and the numbers increased. In 1911, an estimated crowd of 106,000 members and guests crammed into

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—a city of less than one-half that size. Then the passing years began taking a telling toll, and the reunions grew smaller. But still, the meetings continued until, in 1950, at the sixtieth reunion, only one member could attend, 98-year-old Commander-in-Chief James Moore of Selma,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. The following year, 1951, the United Confederate Veterans held its sixty-first and final reunion in

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Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, from May 30 to June 3. Three members attended: William Townsend, John B. Salling, and William Bush. The U.S. Post Office Department issued a 3-cent commemorative stamp in conjunction with that final reunion. The last verified Confederate veteran, Pleasant Crump, died at age 104 on December 31, 1951.

''The Confederate Veteran''

In addition to national meetings, another prominent factor contributed to the growth and popularity of the UCV. This monthly magazine became the official UCV organ, the '' Confederate Veteran''. Founded as an independent publishing venture in January 1893 by Sumner Archibald Cunningham, the UCV adopted it the following year. Cunningham personally edited the magazine for twenty-one years and bequeathed almost his entire estate to ensure its continuance. The magazine was of very high quality, and circulation was wide. Many veterans penned recollections or articles for publication on its pages. Readership always greatly exceeded circulation because numerous camps and soldiers' homes received one or two copies for their numerous occupants. For example, an average of 6500 copies were printed per issue during the first year of publication, but Cunningham estimated that fifty thousand people read the twelfth issue.Hattaway, 1971, pp. 215–16.

Notes

References

* Cimbala, Paul A. ''Veterans North and South: The Transition from Soldier to Civilian after the American Civil War'' (Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2015). xviii, 189 pp. * Dorgan, Howard. "Rhetoric of the United Confederate Veterans: A lost cause mythology in the making." in ''Oratory in the New South'' (1979): 143–73. * Hattaway, Herman. "The United Confederate Veterans in Louisiana." '' Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association'' 16.1 (1975): 5–37
in JSTOR
* * Marten, James Alan. ''Sing Not War: The Lives of Union & Confederate Veterans in Gilded Age America'' (Univ of North Carolina Press, 2011).

Primary sources

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External links

1914 Confederate Veterans Convention
at The World Digital Library
Confederate Veteran Organizations
at the

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*
Minutes of the Annual Meetings and Reunions of the United Confederate Veterans
' at the

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*
Organization of Camps in the United Confederate Veterans
' at the Online Books Page

at

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United Confederate Veterans Collection
at

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United Confederate Veterans Politicians
at

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United Confederate Veterans Reunions held in Memphis
a
Historic-Memphis

United Confederate Veterans Reunion of 1911
at ''

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''
United Confederate Veterans Reunion of 1928
at ''

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United Confederate Veterans Reunion of 1949
at ''

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United Confederate Veterans Tennessee Division Records
at the

Tennessee State Library and Archives The Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA), established in 1854, currently operates as a unit of the Tennessee Department of State. According to the Tennessee Blue Book, the Library and Archives "collects and preserves books and records of h ...

United Confederate Veterans Virginia Division Records
at the

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United Confederate Veterans (UCV)
at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:United Confederate Veterans 1889 establishments in Louisiana 1951 disestablishments in Virginia Aftermath of the American Civil War American Civil War veterans and descendants organizations Defunct clubs and societies of the United States Defunct organizations based in Louisiana Neo-Confederate organizations Organizations established in 1889 Organizations disestablished in 1951