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RARE UNITED CONFEDERATE VETERANS WEST VIRGINIA MEDAL

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Prior to 1889, Confederate veterans had no national organization similar to the Grand Army of the Republic. Several separate fraternal and memorial groups existed on a local and regional level. Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1889, several of these groups united and formed the United Confederate Veterans Association.

The organization was founded to serve as a benevolent, historical, social and literary association. The UCV was active well into the 1940s. Its final reunion was held in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1951.

The primary functions of the organization were to provide for widows and orphans of former Confederate soldiers, preserve relics and mementos, care for disabled former soldiers, preserve a record of the service of its members, and organize reunions and fraternal gatherings. At its height, membership in the organization was approximately 160,000 former Confederate soldiers organized into 1,885 local camps. A privately produced magazine called Confederate Veteran was popular with UCV members, with articles about events during the war and providing a forum for lost comrades to locate one another.

West Virginia holds the distinction of having spent the first portion of the war as part of the Confederacy, and the second as the 35th addition to the United States. A full 15% of the civilian population of the first capital city still supported the Confederacy and the state provided many troops for Virginia regiments across all theaters of war, both before and after West Virginia’s secession from Virginia.

This United Confederate Veterans badge features a drop medal with red and white ribbon.  Very minor fraying is noted along the low edge of the white portion of the ribbon.  The base has a pin backing and is stamped by the manufacturer “GREENDUCK CO. CHICAGO”. The front is cast to form a banner with the text “CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL INSTITUTE / RICHMOND, VA” with a relief of the building.  Two subsequent drops read “BRIGADE COMMANDER” and “WEST VIRGINIA”.  The drop medal features a portrait of General Lee and a laurel banner reading “42^nd ANNUAL REUNION / CDV” with a “Stars and Bars” flagged shield.  The drop medal is also stamped by the same manufacturer. Overall measurements are 1.9” x 4.6”.  [cm][ph:L]

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