The Camp is located in Boston. The camp is in the process of forming and is recruiting new members. The organization that is known today as the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) is the result of several like-minded organizations combining to honor Union soldiers and sailors of the American Civil War, 1861-1865. Ross Post No. 94 of the GAR (located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) formed a “GAR Cadet Corps,” consisting of sons of Union soldiers, sailors and marines. It became known as the Philadelphia or Eastern Pennsylvania Sons of Veterans. About the same time, Edwin M. Earp (of Lynn, Massachusetts) formed another Sons of Veterans group that became popular in New England. In 1881, the Sons of Veterans of the United States of America was organized by Major A. Davis in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The organization’s first annual encampment took place in 1882. Through consolidation with the Eastern Pennsylvania group, and its own growth, this particular Order grew to be recognized by the GAR as the sole organization of “Sons of Union Veterans.”
At its 42nd annual encampment, the organization voted to officially change its name to “Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War,” to better identify its heritage. As time and nature took its toll on the ranks of the GAR, the Union veterans came to recognize and then designate the SUVCW as legal heir to, and representative of the Grand Army of the Republic. In 1954, the SUVCW was granted a Congressional Charter by passage of Public Law 605 during the 83rd Congress. The Purposes and Object of the Order are:
“To perpetuate the memory of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the men who saved the Union 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 our country, and the love and honor of our Flag; to oppose every tendency or movement that would weaken loyalty to, or make for the destruction or impairment of our constitutional Union; and to inculcate and broadly sustain the American principles of representative government, of equal rights, and of impartial justice for all.”
Currently Camps exist around Massachusetts and are involved in a variety of activities from Monument rededications, cemetery clean up and the placing of flags on Memorial Day. The Department (State) Officers participate in the Annual Memorial Ceremony at the Bourne National Cemetery. The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War was also the sponsor of the Return of the Flags ceremony held at the State House a few years ago. We are still in the early stages of camp formation and a meeting location and time has not been determined yet. We are recruiting Charter Members of the Camp whose names will be listed on the Organizational Charter once it is issued by the National Organization.
