Just like their northern counterparts Confederate Civil War veterans met in small local groups across the South after the war. With differing names and missions, the various local groups banded together to become the United Confederate Veterans (UCV) in 1889. Organized in New Orleans, the UCV came to represent Confederate veterans.
The United Confederate Veterans membership was open to all former soldiers and sailors who fought honorably for the Confederacy. Their mission was to renew old friendships, preserve their military history and honor their fallen brethren while helping the less fortunate veteran or his family left behind.
Like most post-war veteran’s groups the UCV was set up in a military style. The local organizations were known as “Camps”. The Camps were numbered and named. The Camps belonged to a Division (State), Divisions came under a Department. Originally there were three Departments named for the Army of Northern Virginia, Army of Tennessee and Trans-Mississippi. Finally all fell under the National organization. At its peak there were 1,885 Camps in the UCV with a membership of 160,000. The UCV never wielded the national political clout the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) did in the late nineteenth century but it did have an impact at the local level for the veteran member. While the UCV did not support accepting personal financial assistance form the federal government they did support the Congressional acts that included the care of Confederate graves near battlefields and northern prisons and the placement of headstones on those graves.
During the late 1890s the UCV began publishing their own Confederate Veteran magazine. It started out as a monthly newsletter but expanded to a magazine as it grew in popularity. The magazine was filled with articles submitted by veterans who wrote of their war time experiences. Names, obituaries, pictures and descriptions of events filled the pages. Veterans submitted ads to the magazine trying to reconnect with lost comrades. The Confederate Veteran contains as much information for the genealogist researching their Civil War ancestor today as it did for those who read it during its publication from 1893 until 1932.
One of the group’s larger projects was their annual reunion. The National organization held a yearly reunion in major cities across the South. Cities vied for the honor of hosting the UCV event. Starting as a one day assembly, reunions eventually grew to three days of meetings and camaraderie for veterans, widows and children of deceased soldiers. The final United Confederate Veterans reunion was held in Norfolk, Virginia in 1951.
Finally like any fraternal organization the United Confederate Veterans kept records. Camps generated rosters, minutes from meetings, new member applications, etc., as well as all the information recorded on the Division, Department and National level. These records would be so helpful in researching your Civil War ancestor.
Now where to find these records:
First LSU’s site providing a .pdf at https://www.lib.lsu.edu/sites/default/files/sc/findaid/1357.pdf
Then there is a large amount of UCV information at Archive.org. https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22United+Confederate+Veterans%22&page=2 Listed are names of Departments, Divisions, Brigades and Camps, their commanders, etc.
Check the Familysearch.org wiki https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Confederate_Veterans_and_Lineage_Society_Records The records are listed according to state and camp. There are rosters which of course include names, company or rank, regiment, state and name and location of the camp.
Also try searching the Confederate Veteran magazine. First go to the Library of Virginia site here: https://lva-virginia.libguides.com/confederate-veteran You’ll be able to search all issues of the magazine for a reference to your veteran ancestor. Not only will you get the volume and page of the magazine that references him you could also gain other helpful information.
Then check that issue at the University of Pennsylvania’s Online Books page. https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=confedvet *This site is missing the magazines from 1924 through 1930.*
Let me mention here there is a current publication titled, Confederate Veteran magazine published by the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). It is for today’s SCV members with events and information for their membership and not the research resource referenced here.
You can see the records of a GAR Post or a UCV Camp would be very helpful as you research your Civil War ancestor. Perseverance in research may uncover many unknown aspects of your veterans life after the Civil War.
Good Luck in your research!