Magazine Confederates’ Voice

Ever hear of the Confederate Veteran magazine? If you have ancestors who sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War, you need to know about this publication.

The Confederate Veteran magazine first appeared in Nashville, Tenn., in January 1893. The price was five cents per issue, or 50 cents a year. The masthead reported it was “Published Monthly in the Interest of Confederate Veterans and Kindred Topics.”

The first issue’s lead story began: “The Confederate Veteran greets you! It is not sent to any one at random, but addresses you through friendship, personal obligation, or because you have been commended as one who might take an active interest in the cause for which it is published.”

The magazine’s intent was to provide communication between Confederate soldiers and those interested in them and their affairs, along with information acceptable to the public, “even to those who fought on the other side.”

Confederate Veteran, still in publication, contains such items as the Confederate song, memorials and tributes, obituaries (The Final Roll), poems, biographies, camp and unit reunions, personal stories and accounts, addresses - given at civic occasions, like Memorial Day - cemeteries and monuments, tributes to African Americans as soldiers and slaves, advertisements of the day and information on other organizations, such as the Daughters of the Confederacy.

One article in the first issue was “The Name Of Our War” which stated: “Let steps be taken without longer delay to abandon such terms as ‘the late unpleasantness,’ ‘the late war.’ Even the ‘civil war’ and ‘the war between the States,’ are terms hardly fitting in dignity.

“The Veteran proposes that we adopt ‘The Confederate War’ as our term and exercise diligence for it. All the world would accept it, and the rebellion would not be remembered as a disloyal epoch when the pride of the term ceases to be understood by new generations.”

Another article, “His Leg Amputated After Thirty-Two Years” told: “J.P. Griffin served in the 37th North Carolina Regiment, and was wounded in the leg in the second battle of Manassas, August 29, 1862. He has been a farmer since the war, moving to Weakley County, Tenn., in 1877. On April 10, 1894, he had that wounded leg taken off, after a period of nearly 32 years, having suffered very much at times from the old wound, but he had worked when able on the farm.

“Before having his leg amputated, he made for himself a wooden leg and had it ready. He is now well, cheerful, and happy, and sends greetings to old comrades who remember him. He is so much relieved as to look 20 years younger.”

Even the ads make for great reading: “Riverside Mills, manufacturer of the following grades of Corn Meal: Bolted Meal, Morgans Matchless Meal, Pearl Meal, Hominy, Grits and Graham Flour. Ask your grocer for Riverside Mills Meal, and insist on having it furnished, and you will not fail to have good corn bread.”

The microfilmed version of the Confederated Veteran index in Salt Lake City is available to local Family History Centers. Magazines, filmed up to Volume 40, 1992, can also be sent to your FHC. Use the Microfiche Card Catalog to look up Confederate Veteran magazine.

Part 2 of this article will be continued next week.

, DataTimes MEMO: Donna Potter Phillips welcomes letters from readers. Write to her at The Spokesman-Review, Features Department, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. For a response, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Donna Potter Phillips The Spokesman-Review