Descendants of the London Branch of American Civil War Veterans

09/03/2026

“On the road to remembrance”.

‘Campfire Tales’ the newsletter for our little band of members, celebrating all things London Branch and is out!

01/01/2026

Happy New Year to all our Followers. We appreciate your Support throughout 2025. Here's to 2026.

18/12/2025

“Seasonal Salutations”

Our latest newsletter concerning all things relating to and Descendants of the London Branch of American Civil War Veterans is hot off the press.

The descendants have 105 members on their roll. The greater proportion of members being relatives of those long departed boys in blue who gathered for reunions in Bermondsey. The old Civil War veterans would tell their campfire tales, jabber and often tell yarns fathoms long concerning their experiences between 1861 and 1865. One thing is certain and true they were all faithful to the United States and President Lincoln. After all their mantra was “Not for Ourselves, But our country”. 🇺🇸🇬🇧

If you're interested in joining the role of the descendants of the london branch of American Civil War Veterans please contact us via email at [email protected]



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04/10/2025

04/10/2025

25/09/2025

20/09/2025

Two important anniversaries today!!

115 years ago The London Branch of American Civil War Veterans was founded in Bermondsey- Tuesday September 20th 1910 by local missionary/veteran John Davis (USS Tulip). About 25 Civil War veterans gathered in an old Railway arch and reconnected for the first time since the war. A historic occasion. Among the men were medal of honor recipient Maurice Wagg (USS Rhode Island) and George Denham (USS Chickasaw).

The London Branch lasted until its last member died in 1965 (yes, you read that correctly!!). On September 20th 2023 Descendants of the London Branch was co-founded by Gina Denham and Darren Rawlings. In two years our roll of members has grown to beyond a 100 people!! Like John Davis we came across many (Descendants of ) Civil War veterans and thought it would be a good idea to connect them for mutual benefit. That decision has had so many benefits - artifacts, anecdotes and photographs have been discovered - all of which could have been lost to history.

We are carrying on the work of John Davis, and on October 4th 2025 we’ll be following in his footsteps (as he did in 1916 for the funeral of Henry McGuiness (65th New York)). We’ll be honoring Henry and Sam Hough (2nd New Jersey cavalry) two members of the London Branch, at a special double dedication when their official burial markers are unveiled.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy08299979zo.amp

Meanwhile we say Happy Birthday to the London Branch veterans, and us too!!

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15/03/2025

“Milestone moments”.

We’re feeling very happy! Today marks a marvelous milestone moment in our relatively short existence.

Our 100th member has just joined the ranks of ! They share William C Elliott (USS Fort Jackson) as their London Branch ancestor. Followers of our page might recall that in 1865 William enjoyed his share of prize money that equates to spending power of $10,000 in 2025!!!

With this milestone we think its fair to say we are the true successors to the London Branch of American Civil War veterans.

Other than us, there are no other organisations that can claim as many descendants of the original group of Civil War veterans that united in Bermondsey in 1910.

In the 1920s the London Branch veterans mooted the idea of creating a widows and sons organisation. Sadly there were too few veterans left to get the idea off the ground.

A century later, we, their Descendants have made the vision of those old blue-coats a reality!!

Huzzah!!!

23/02/2025

Thanks to our friends over at Emerging Civil War team were able to shine more light on Lincoln’s Londoners. The men who served in the American Civil War then later formed the London Branch of American Civil War Veterans.

Based on our investigative work these last three years or so, we have found many descendants of the London Branch. Many had no idea about their forebears service.

Like John Davis we eventually concluded that we should form some sort of society for mutual benefit. Thus, our little band was born.

We have 99 members on our roll, and are autonomous like the London Branch were. They were not a Grand Army of the Republic Post, we are not a Daughters or Sons of Union veterans camp either. However we follow their principles of fraternity, charity and loyalty.

With so many descendants connected to a very special group of men we feel we can lay claim to be the natural successors to those old bluecoats based in Bermondsey. Find out what we have been up to lately 👇🏻👇🏻

ECW welcomes back Gina Denham of the Monumental Project. Since Darren Rawlings and I returned from the fantastic 2024 Emerging Civil War symposium, we have continued leaving no stone unturned in our “Monumental Project.” The endeavour shines light on Civil War veterans who lived and died in Engl...