About the Sons of Confederate Veterans
Who we are
The citizen-soldiers who fought for the Confederacy personified the best qualities of America. The preservation of liberty and freedom was the motivating factor in the South’s decision to fight the Second American Revolution. The tenacity with which Confederate soldiers fought underscored their belief in the rights guaranteed by the Constitution. These attributes are the underpinning of our democratic society and represent the foundation on which this nation was built.
Today, the Sons of Confederate Veterans is preserving the history and legacy of these heroes so that future generations can understand the motives that animated the Southern Cause.
The SCV is the direct heir of the United Confederate Veterans, and the oldest hereditary organization for male descendants of Confederate soldiers. Organized at Richmond, Virginia in 1896, the SCV continues to serve as a historical, patriotic, and non-political organization dedicated to ensuring that a true history of the 1861-1865 period is preserved.
Membership in the Sons of Confederate Veterans is open to all male descendants of any veteran who served honorably in the Confederate armed forces.
About SCV Camp 15
Founded prior to the founding of the national organization, our Camp is one of the oldest in the country. Dedicated to preserving and promoting the history and legacy of the Confederate heritage, our members, along with members of numerous other Camps, form a voluntary national association of male descendants of those who served the Confederate States of America in a military capacity. It is our sincere intention to honor their memories by preserving and causing to be remembered those ideals for which they so nobly stood.
The Camp is part of the Southern Highland Brigade, one of 11 brigades comprising the North Carolina Division of the national Sons of Confederate Veterans. Active for many years, the Camp fell victim to the Great Depression of the 1930s, but was re‑activated in the mid‑1960s under the leadership of long-time Camp Commander, Robert Beard. Since that time, and thanks to the guidance and efforts of many committed members, the Camp has remained an active and viable representation in Western North Carolina of our Confederate heritage. It is to the many dedicated compatriots, past and present, of the Zebulon Baird Vance Camp No. 15 that we owe a debt of gratitude for their faithful support.
The Camp shares with the national and state organizations an enduring interest in and commitment to preserving our common Confederate heritage. In practical terms, this often means responding to uninformed or ill meaning attacks on points of Confederate history, symbols, monuments, historical figures, or the real but often obscured reasons so many Southerners, (both white and black) fought for the Confederacy. The Camp is a “501 (C) (3) ”non-political organization which is not affiliated with any organization other than the national and state SCV (including the Military Order of the Stars and Bars). We reject any group whose actions tarnish or distort the image of the Confederate soldier or his reasons for fighting. Neither do we embrace, condone, support or associate with any organization(s) whose philosophy is based on racial or social bias or the hatred of other people.