Louis Warren, left, joins his brother Chris in leading
the local
Sons of Union Veterans James McCormick Camp #215.
The group will receive its charter in a formal presentation at 7 p.m.
Thursday
in the private dining room in the field house at Mineral Area College.
During the Civil War, William Reed joined the Union Army to look
after his younger brother. Ultimately Reed followed Gen. William Sherman
in the March to the Sea that left Atlanta in ashes and ended with the
capture of the port of Savannah, Ga. in 1864.
One-hundred-forty years later, Reed’s descendants are two brothers
savoring the stories of the war that divided America.
Chris Warren is commander and Louis Warren is vice-commander of James
McCormick Camp #215 of the Sons of Union Veterans. The group receives
its official charter Thursday in a ceremony in the private dining room
in the field house at Mineral Area College.
“I joined the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War two years ago
and the nearest camp was in St. Louis,” Chris explained. “I thought
there would be interest here. Currently, we have 11 members.”
Members must be male and research their lineage to prove they had an
ancestor in the Union Army. However, those who have no ancestral
connection, but love the Civil War, can be accepted as associate
members. There is also a Ladies Auxiliary unit.
This is not a group that re-enacts Civil War battles, but rather
celebrates the history of that time with speakers, trips to Civil War
sites and attention to the graves of Civil War soldiers.
“We work to register all the Civil War graves in this area,” Chris
said. “I’ve recorded 300 myself. We are getting ready to clean
headstones in one cemetery. If they are broken, the federal government
will provide new stones if our group will set them.”
Chris said there are soldiers buried in almost every cemetery in St.
Francois County. He believes preserving those graves is a way of
preserving history.
“A lot of our history is being lost or re-written for political
correctness,” he said. “The Civil War was American fighting
American. Our children can understand going overseas to fight, but not
understand that this war was on our soil.”
To help them, he takes part in special events like Pioneer Days at
Roosevelt Elementary School in Farmington. There, he talked about Fort
Davidson, showed reproductions of memorabilia from Civil War days and
tried to show them how friends fought friends.
“I divide them up and say one group likes Coke best and another likes
Pepsi,” he explained. “Then, as we talk a little about what makes
one better than the other, they can see how you can split up over
something. It’s not the same, of course, but I hope it gives them an
idea.”
Receiving the charter makes the local group an official part of the Sons
of Union Veterans, based in Harrisburg, Pa. Missouri Department
Commander John Avery is expected to be on hand to present the charter.
Chris said only Virginia and Tennessee had more battles, skirmishes and
engagements during the Civil War. The chapter meets at 7 p.m. the second
Thursday of each month at MAC. To find out more, call Chris at
573-431-1860. .
The Missouri Sons of Union Veterans began in 1884 as the Missouri
Division of the Sons of Veterans of the USA. In 1925, the organization
changed its name to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.
Sometime after 1940, due to declining membership, the Division
disbanded. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, interest in the
organization grew dramatically, and in 1996, the Department was
re-chartered. The Department of Missouri is now one of 26 within the
Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. The Department, with nearly 200
members, has grown steadily since it was re-chartered in 1996. It now
has eight camps, or local units, with two more in the organizing stages.
