Membership

Contents:

• MemberQualifications

• MembershipProcess

• Application 

• Contact Keller Camp
      

General Qualifications:

If you are descended from a Confederate veteran and wish to do your part to honor their sacrifices, and protect their monuments and symbols, please contact the national headquarters of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. You can also contact the camp in your area directly

Membership in the Sons of Confederate Veterans is open to all male descendants of any veteran who served honorably in the Confederate armed forces. Full, credentialed membership can be obtained through either lineal (direct, e.g., father, grandfather, etc.) or collateral (e.g., uncle, cousin, etc.) family lines. Your kinship to a Confederate veteran must be documented genealogically. The minimum age for membership is 12.

Associate membership is available to anyone who is unable to document a Confederate ancestor, but who still want to participate in the SCV's programs and activities. Associate members have full privilege within their home camp, but are unable to serve as voting delegates to Division or National conventions.

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Steps to Membership:

The first step in applying for membership is to locate one of your ancestors who served in the Confederate armed forces. This probably isn't as hard as it looks... If you have a male ancestor who

1. lived in the Confederate states (AL, AR, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, TX, and VA) and
2. was between the age of 17 and 45 between 1860 and 1865;

the chances are pretty good that he saw service of some sort in the Confederate forces. The SCV has a network of genealogists to assist you in tracing your ancestor's Confederate service. (Race or ethnicity isn't a problem or a barrier... large numbers of blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and many others served in the Confederate forces as well. It's worth checking out.) If you're new to genealogy, there are a number of good references to help you get started and to discover even more about your Southern heritage. The ones I've found most helpful are:

• In Search of Confederate Ancestors: The Guide
  by J.H. Segars, Southern Heritage Press, Atlanta, GA (1996) 112 pp. ISBN 0-9631963-4-0.
  The definitive handbook on tracing and researching Confederate soldiers.
• In the Footsteps of the Blue and Gray: A Civil War Research Handbook
  by Brian A. Brown, Two Trails Genealogy Shop, Shawnee Mission, KS (1996)
  An excellent reference for the beginner, which very patiently explains how Civil War units kept records; which records to look for; what documents are out there as well as who has them on a state-by-state basis; and an excellent summary of the regiments in the war, who they were, how they were organized, and how they kept records.
• Tracing Your Civil War Ancestor
  by Bertram H. Groene. John F. Blair Publishing, Winston-Salem, NC (1973) 120 pp.
  This one isn't as good as the two listed above, but you can easily find it at most bookstores.
• Unpuzzling Your Past: A Basic Guide to Genealogy, 3rd Ed.
  by Emily A. Croom. Betterway Books, Cincinnatti, OH (1995) 176 pp. ISBN 1-55870-396-9
  After you find your Confederate ancestor, you still have to prove you're related to him. Croom's book is a classic to learning the tools, skills, resources, and terminology of basic genealogical research.
• SCV Confederate Ancestors Research Guide
  A quick guide from the SCV on how to trace Confederate soldiers and their service records

Next, you need a copy of the membership application. The membership application for the Sons of Confederate Veterans is found in the SCV's pamphlet, Heritage of Honor. Contact your local camp's recruiting contact for a copy, or you may now download a copy here in Adobe Corporation's Portable Document Format, or "PDF". You will need a copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader (available free by clicking the yellow button below and following the instructions) to open and print the application form. Print out the application form, fill it in, and send it to your local camp's recruiting contact.

(Note: If you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader yet, you can download this file by right-clicking on the "Download" link and when prompted, choose "save file as" to your hard drive or a floppy disk so you can deal with it later.)

In addition to your personal information, the SCV membership questionnaire asks for your Confederate ancestor's name, the unit he served in, his relationship to you (e.g., "great-great grandfather"; "1st cousin 4 times removed", or "great-great uncle") and, if known, the place where he is buried. (This last question is part of an ongoing effort to document the final resting places of Confederate veterans.)

You'll also need to document your ancestor's Confederate service. This can be in any of several methods; the most common is to include a copy of your ancestor's compiled Confederate service record (normally available from your state archives or from the National Archives in Washington, D.C.) If your ancestor happens to be one of the many who don't have a compiled service record, proof of service can be documented in other ways, such as:

• a copy of a Confederate pension record or application for a Confederate pension
• a copy of a muster roll containing your ancestor's name
• a copy of a publication (book, newspaper article, unit history, article from the Confederate Veteran magazine, etc.) showing your ancestor's service, etc.

Next, you'll need to prove your relationship to the Confederate veteran by means of a family tree or genealogical report documenting the generations and relationships between you and the veteran.

Once this is done, submit your application to the SCV Camp that you wish to join along with payment of dues for the current year (Current combined camp, division, and national dues for the The James M. Keller Camp is $30.00 per year). Camp officers will check and co-sign the application, and forward it to the SCV International Headquarters in Columbia, TN for verification and the generation of your membership certificate. This generally takes about 3 to 4 months for your certificate and membership badge to be returned from Headquarters.

If you find that you didn't have a Confederate ancestor (or that your ancestors were Yankees), you aren't shut out. You can still apply for associate membership in the SCV, where you can participate in the Camp's activities and events, receive the newsletters and Confederate Veteran, and enjoy all other benefits of membership except for that certificate to hang on your wall. There is rejoicing in the Confederation when each poor, lost Yankee sees the light and joins the True Faith!)

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Contact James M. Keller Camp: