United Confederate Veterans - History

History

Prior to 1889, Confederate veterans had no national organization similar to the Grand Army of the Republic. Several separate fraternal and memorial groups existed on a local and regional level. Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1889, several of these groups united and formed the United Confederate Veterans Association. The organization was founded to serve as a benevolent, historical, social and literary association. The UCV was active well into the 1940s. Its final reunion was held in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1951.

The primary functions of the organization were to provide for widows and orphans of former Confederate soldiers, preserve relics and mementos, care for disabled former soldiers, preserve a record of the service of its members, and organize reunions and fraternal gatherings. At its height, membership in the organization was approximately 160,000 former Confederate soldiers organized into 1,885 local camps. A privately produced magazine called Confederate Veteran was popular with UCV members, with articles about events during the war and providing a forum for lost comrades to locate one another.

The organizational structure of the UCV was based on a military-style hierarchy with a national headquarters, three departments, divisions within those departments, and finally the local camps. The national officers were at first known as "Generals Commanding" and later as "Commander-in-Chief." Commanders were not based on the actual rank of the veteran while in service. Commanders-in-Chief ranged from former generals to former privates. Former Confederate General John Brown Gordon was the first commander of the UCV in 1890, holding this position until his death in 1904, when he was succeeded by Stephen D. Lee. Later commanders included former generals Clement A. Evans, William L. Cabell and George W. Gordon.