Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

United Spanish War Veterans. Dept. of Virginia. Records, 1916-1939. Accession 50893. Organization records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Acquisition Information

Donor information unknown.

Biographical Information

The United Spanish War Veterans was organized in April 1904 from the amalgamation of five other Spanish-American War veterans' groups: the Spanish War Veterans, the Spanish American War Veterans, Service Men of the Spanish War, the Legion of Spanish War Veterans, and the Veteran Army of the Philippines. The goals of the organization were to honor the memory and preserve the graves of Spanish-American War veterans, to assist veterans and their widows and orphans, to perpetuate the memories of the war, to collect and preserve the records of service of the members, and to inculcate certain patriotic principles and ethics among all people. The group was organized into state and local subdivisions. The state departments administered local "camps."

The structure of the organization was as follows: the national level which had its headquarters in Washington, D.C., the state level, called a department, and the local level, called a camp. Every year a national convention, called an encampment, was held in a pre designated city. Just prior to the national encampment, the National Council of Administration held a meeting to discuss organizational business. Those participating in the council of administration were the commander-in-chief, the senior and junior vice commanders-in-chief, and the various department commanders. On the state level, a department encampment was also held annually; it consisted of delegates from each camp in the state as well as the department officers and past department officers. Department councils of administration, consisting of elected officers of the department and camp delegates could be called by the department commander. It served the same purpose as a national council of administration. The department of Virginia consisted of roughly 22 camps. The organization survived until 1992 when the last member passed away.

The Dept. of Virginia camps included: Fitzhugh Lee Camp No. 1; M.B. Rowe Camp No. 2; George H. Bentley Camp No. 3; Austin R. Davis Camp No. 4; Marshall Tarrall Camp No. 5; George W. Taylor Camp No. 7; A.M. Higgins Camp No. 8; William Nalle Camp No. 9; H.C. Hasbrouck Camp No. 10; Robert E. Craighill Camp No. 11; Joseph E. Willard Camp No. 12; Frank Wysor Camp No. 13; Joseph C. Spottswood Camp No. 14; Vaughan-Causey Camp No. 15; Anson F. Rix Camp No. 16; J. A. LeJune Camp No. 17; Thomas L. Rosser Camp No. 18; Carter Braxton Camp No. 19; James E. King Camp No. 20; S.V. Fulkerson Camp No. 21; Convention Camp No. 22; and Col. James Carr Baker Camp No. 23.

Scope and Content

Records, 1916-1939, including by-laws, charter applications, correspondence, financial records, legislation, minutes, muster rolls, General and Special Orders, pension lists, publications, reports, and rosters of the United Spanish War Veterans, Dept. of Virginia.

The Correspondence contains letters from the various camps sent to Dept. of Virginia Headquarters regarding the election of officers, finances, meetings, questions on pensions, and other membership issues. For information on specific camps of note are the Reports of Installation of Officers, which lists the commanders and officers for each camp; Camp Semi-Annual Reports of the Adjutant which contain muster rolls of members including age, name, rank, and unit information; Camp Semi-Annual Reports of the Quartermaster which contain reports on finances; and Reports of Historian and Reports of Inspection, which both detail information on various Virginia camps.

Also included are General and Special Orders from the Dept. of Virginia and the National Headquarters, as well as copies of General and Special Orders from other U.S. state departments (ie Dept. of Arizona, Dept. of New York, Dept. of Ohio). Of note are the Annual Encampment Official Proceedings which contain correspondence, lists of members, meeting minutes, and resolutions; and the Legislation folder which contains bulletins, circulars, and correspondence from the National Committee on Legislation regarding pensions and tax exemptions. Also of note is the folder, Taps, which reports on deaths of members and contain information on the service, spouse, place of birth, death, and burials of veterans.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged alphabetically by folder title.