The Lt. Commander's Confederate Comments:

Greeting and Welcome to the website for the South Carolina Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans.

The period of American history from 1861 to 1865 is known as the War Between the States. We prefer to call it the War for Southern Independence or the War against Northern Aggression. South Carolina provided more than 56,000 volunteer citizen soldiers to the cause of individual liberties, freedom, and States Rights. Of this number, 1 of 4 never returned home. More than one half of the survivors experienced illness or injury that would affect them for the remainder of their lives. A familiar chant heard up and down southern battle lines among the Palmetto State’s soldiers went something like this-an officer or an NCO would shout out “Who are we”. The response from the troops would be a resounding “South Carolina”. This was repeated three times followed by the reverberating “REBEL YELL”.

So…”Who Are We’? We are the South Carolina Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The proud descendants of those brave southern men of Valor and Honor. Membership is available to all male descendants of any veteran who served honorably in the Confederate armed forces. We are not affiliated with any other group and reject any group whose actions tarnish or distort the image of the Confederate soldier or his reason for fighting. We are a “Historical Honor Society”. Our Confederate ancestors had a story to tell and so do we!

We deploy two methods to tell this story. These are education and preservation. In education we first and continually educate ourselves to the “True History of the South” with no regard to political correctness. With that true knowledge in hand, we seize every opportunity available to us to educate others. In the area of preservation, we are ever diligent to guard Confederate graves, monuments, markers, and battlefields. Unknown and unmarked Confederate graves are constantly being discovered. We strive to see that each one is appropriately marked and protected as it should be. In doing so, we leave their legacy to those future generations.

The South Carolina Division is broken down into smaller local organizations called “Camps”. These Camps are the backbone of our organization. There are currently seventy camps located throughout South Carolina. Perhaps there may be one close to you. Each Camp determines their membership based upon the ideals set forth by our international organization. Camp meetings include prayer, pledges to our flags including the United States Flag, an educational program, and camp business. Please note that we have a stringent policy in place concerning hate groups. We will not knowingly allow any individual with ties to any hate group to join our ranks.

Any member who chooses to develop a tie with any of these groups gives us due cause for immediate dismissal. This is something that we will not tolerate under any circumstances. You can find out more about our policy on hate groups from a link found on our home page. And yes, in fact there is documentation of Confederate soldiers from many ethnic groups including freed Black Confederates. We welcome all into our organization with Confederate ancestry. Do you have a Confederate ancestor in your family tree? Do you have a burning desire to learn more about him, why he is who he is, and tell others about him based upon historical fact? Do you crave for the preservation and protection of Confederate monuments, historical markers, and graves? If so the Sons of Confederate Veterans needs you and you need the Sons of Confederate Veterans. If you don’t know who your Confederate ancestor is we have genealogists on stand-by to give you a hand.

Now is an exciting time to join our ranks. We will commence the sesquicentennial (150 years) commemoration of the War for Southern Independence on December 20, 2010 (South Carolina’s Independence Day). For the next five years there will be numerous events local, statewide, and in other southern states occurring. We do these to carry out our duty to see that the “True history of the South is presented to future generations” and remember and honor those brave Confederates. Maybe you would want the opportunity to take part in some of these. To receive an informational packet including an application for membership, please contact me.

T. Leland Summers
1980 Robert Usher Road
Lancaster, SC 29720-7840
Home 803-313-9586
Mobile 803-235-8322
E-mail to scltcommand@yahoo.com

Thank you visiting with us and I hope that you found what you needed on our website. We look forward to hearing from you.

They shall not be forgotten,
Leland T. Leland Summers, LT. Commander
South Carolina Division
Sons of Confederate Veterans

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