With this being the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, many folks in the region focus on Southern aspects. But there are many locals who are descendants of Northerners and celebrate that heritage.
While the national organization Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War 1861-1865 dates back to 1885, it was only in recent years that a “tent,” or local group, was chartered here in Georgia, in Alpharetta, to be specific.
While most of the women who belong were born in the South, and some even have Southern accents, they are proud to be called Yankees, or at least, descendants of Yankees.
But don’t worry. The granddaughters and great-granddaughters of Union soldiers are more interested in honoring their ancestors and supporting veterans than rehashing past grievances, said Maribeth Brannen, president of the Georgia tent. And why shouldn’t they? Their side won. For more information on the Georgia group, visit duvcwga.weebly.com.
Q: Your tent is named for Amanda Stokes. Who is she?
A: Local chapters are named after nurses. Amanda Stokes was a nurse who took care of Union soldiers at Stones River, Murfreesboro, Chattanooga and Chickamauga. She also is a very distant cousin of mine.
Q: You are the daughter of a Union veteran?
A: My ancestor was from Illinois, a major in the Cavalry. He was the sheriff of a small community and got a group of soldiers together. He was about 40 years old but most of his men were teenagers.
Q: Are you from a northern state?
A: I was born in St. Petersburg, Florida. That’s the north, right? I married a boy from Atlanta. His ancestor was in the Battle of Atlanta. We get along just fine.
Q: What do the Daughters of Union Veterans do?
A: We are a service organization. We participate in Wreaths Across America, where we place wreaths at national cemeteries in December. We also present wreaths on Memorial Day at cemeteries like the Andersonville National Historic Site and Marietta National. We provide lap blankets to V.A. hospitals and contribute to the Wounded Warrior Project.
Q: Is there an educational component to your group?
A: Every meeting has an interesting program. Two members have written books about their ancestors. One woman has an ancestor who had written all of these letters but he did not survive the war. It was so sad when she got to that part.
Q: Why did you decide to form the group?
A: Some of us are in the Daughters of the American Revolution together and decided to charter a tent in Georgia to honor our Union ancestors. We started out with 18 members and now have 45. We have an African American member whose ancestor was in the United States Colored Troops in Louisiana.
Q: So you’ve done your genealogy research?
A: Yes, I go all the way back to Colonial days. Many of us who are members of the Daughters of Union Veterans have ancestors who fought in the War of 1812. Some of our members belong to a dozen or more organizations.
Q: Is there a place for these groups today?
A: Lineage societies are growing more now than ever before. There are the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Sons of Union Veterans, the Sons of the Confederacy. There is a male and female group for just about everything.
Q: Do you ever do things with the United Daughters of the Confederacy?
A: Yes, both groups participated in the Barrington Hall Civil War exhibit in Roswell last summer, and we hope to participate in other joint activities.
Q: When you tell people around Atlanta about your group, do you get any snarky responses?
A: Sometimes we get a disparaging remark. However, although we have Union ancestry, we honor the men on both sides who fought and died for their beliefs. We hope that those with Confederate ancestry feel the same way. It is about honoring your ancestry, not about refighting the Civil War.
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