Who are the Sons of Confederate Veterans? What do they do?

As members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, we are charged with the defense and vindication of the Cause for which we Southerners fought through 1861-1865. The organization was created in 1896 by the United Confederate Veterans, and its mission was perfectly summed up by General Stephen D. Lee when he said to the then-new SCV in 1906:

"To you, Sons of Confederate Veterans, we submit the vindication of the Cause for which we fought; to your strength will be given the defense of the Confederate soldier's good name, the guardianship of his history, the emulation of his virtues, the perpetuation of those principles he loved and which made him glorious and which you also cherish. Remember, it is your duty to see that the true history of the South is presented to future generations."

It is the mission of the Sons of Confederate Veterans to fight the forces of bigotry, intolerance, and political correctness wherever they rear their ugly heads and attempt to spread their lies about the true causes and consequences of the War of Northern Aggression.

It all started for Alabama on 11 Jan 1861, when the vote on the Ordinance of Secession was taken. In the words of William R. Smith, Alabama at that point became "a free, sovereign, and independent State."


 

At a Convention of the People of the State of Alabama, begun and held at Montgomery, on the seventh day of January, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and continued to the twelfth day of February in the same year.
 

AN ORDINANCE

To dissolve the Union between the State of Alabama and other States united under the compact styled
"The Constitution of the United States of America."

WHEREAS, the election of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin to the offices of President and Vice-President of the United States of America, by a sectional party, avowedly hostile to the domestic institutions and to the peace and security of the people of the State of Alabama, preceded by many and dangerous infractions of the Constitution of the United States by many of the States and people of the northern section, is a political wrong of so insulting and menacing a character as to justify the people of the State of Alabama in the adoption of prompt and decided measures for their future peace and security; therefore,

Be it declared and ordained by the people of the State of Alabama in Convention assembled, That the State of Alabama now withdraws, and is hereby withdrawn from the Union known as "the United States of America", and henceforth ceases to be one of said United States, and is, and of right ought to be, a Sovereign and Independent State.

Section 2. Be it further declared and ordained by the people of the State of Alabama in Convention assembled, That all the powers over the Territory of said State, and over the people thereof, heretofore delegated to the Government of the United States of America, be and they are hereby withdrawn from said Government, and are hereby resumed and vested in the people of the State of Alabama.

And as it is the desire and purpose of the people of Alabama to meet the slaveholding States of the South, who may approve such purpose, in order to frame a provisional as well as a permanent Government upon the principles of the Constitution of the United States,

Be it resolved by the people of Alabama in Convention assembled, That the people of the States of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri, be and are hereby invited to meet the people of the State of Alabama, by their Delegates, in Convention, on the fourth day of February, A. D., 1861, at the city of Montgomery, in the State of Alabama, for the purpose of consulting with each other as to the most effectual mode of securing concerted and harmonious action in whatever measures may be deemed most desirable for our common peace and security.

And be it further resolved, That the President of this Convention be, and he is hereby, instructed to transmit forthwith a copy of the foregoing Preamble, Ordinance, and Resolutions to the Governors of the several States named in said resolutions.

Done by the people of the State of Alabama, in Convention assembled, at Montgomery, on this, the eleventh day of January, A. D., 1861.

Shortly thereafter, delegates from the seceded States met in Montgomery on 4 Feb 1861, and soon thereafter the Confederate States of America was born. Montgomery was the first capitol, and President-elect Jefferson Davis took his oath of office there.