Charles Devens Jr. Camp No. 10, Department of Georgia & South Carolina, SUVCW

The purpose of the Charles Devens Jr. Camp No. 10, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, is to perpetuate the memory of the Grand Army of the Republic and the men who saved the Union from 1861 to 1865; to assist in every practicable way in the preservation and making available for research of documents and records pertaining to the Grand Army of the Republic and its members; to cooperate in doing honor to all who have patriotically served our country in any war; to teach patriotism, and the duties of citizenship, the true history of the United States, and the love and honor of our flag.

"America has no north, no south, no east, no west. The sun rises over the hills and sets over the mountains, the compass just points up and down, and we can laugh now at the absurd notion of there being a north and a south. We are one and undivided." - Private Sam Watkins, 1st Tennessee Infantry Regiment, CSA

Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War

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History of the War

Major General Charles Devens Jr.

S.C. in the War of the Rebellion

Department of Georgia & So. Carolina, GAR

In 1866 the Union Veterans of the American Civil War (1861-1865) organized themselves into an organization known as the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), membership in the organization was restricted to individuals who had served in the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Revenue Cutter Service during the American Civil War, thereby limiting the life span of the Grand Army (The organization existed until 1956)

In 1881 the GAR formed the Sons of Veterans of the United States of America (SV) to carry on its traditions and memory long after the GAR had ceased to exist. Membership was open to any man who could prove ancestry to a member of the GAR or to a veteran eligible for membership in the GAR. In later years, men who did not have the ancestry to qualify for hereditary membership, but who demonstrated a genuine interest in the Civil War and could subscribe to the purpose and objectives of the SUVCW and were admitted as Associates, a practice which continues to this day.

Many GAR Posts sponsored Camps of the Sons, and in 1925 the Sons name was changed to Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), under which its federal charter was issued in 1954, and accordingly became the legally recognized heir to, and representative of, the Grand Army of the Republic.

Today, the National Organization of the SUVCW, headed by an annually elected Commander-in-Chief, oversees the operation of 26 Departments, each consisting of one or more states, a Department-at-Large, a National Membership-at-Large, and over 200 community based Camps. More than 6,360 men enjoy the benefits of membership in the only male organization dedicated to the principles of the GAR (Fraternity, Charity, and Loyalty). It publishes "The BANNER" quarterly for its members. The SUVCW National Headquarters is located in the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

The SUVCW is one of five Allied Orders of the GAR. The other four Orders being the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Woman's Relief Corps, the Auxiliary to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

This Page was created on December 23rd, 2007; last updated on March 12th, 2012.