Patriotic Societies
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
organizations fostering devotion to country by the commemoration of events in the establishment of the country's freedom, and the preservation of traditions, and the restoration of historic sites and scenes. In the United States the greater number of the societies are divided between those whose origin goes back to the Revolutionary War and those origcieties go back to the Colonial period and these are the earliest. The Society of Mayflower Descendants, Society of the Ark and Dove, Society of Colonial Wars, Society of Colonial Dames of America, Order of the Founders and Patriots of America, National Society of Scions of Colonial Cavaliers, National Society of Colonial Dames, Society of Daughters and Patriots of America, Order of Washington, Order of Pequot and King Phillip are other societies devoted to the Colonial period. SEPARABIT QUIS XXX כו BADGE OF THE ORDER OF ST. PATRICK The Society of the Cincinnati is one of the organizations going back to the wars which freed the United States from British control, membership being confined to the descendants of officers who served in the Continental army for at least three years. Other societies relating to the Revolutionary period are: Sons of Revolutionary Sires, Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, Naval Order of the United States, Military Order of Foreign Wars, Saint Nicholas Society of New York. Later organizations are the General Society of the War of 1812, Veteran Corps of Artillery, American Order of the Louisiana, Aztec Club, Association of Mexican Veterans, Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Society of of Dames of the Revolution, Daughters of the the American Revolution, Children American Revolution, Society of the United States, Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Daughters of 1812. The Military Order of the Loyal Legion is conspicuous among the societies relating to the Civil War, being modeled . Other on the Society of the Cincinnati Civil War organizations are: Grand Army of the Republic, Union Society of the Civil War, Union Veteran Legion, Sons of Veterans, Union Society of the Civil War, Society of the Army of Cumberland, Society of the Army of the Potomac, Society of the Army of Tennessee, Eleventh Army Corps Association, Second Army Corps Association, Thirteenth Army Corps Association, Union Society of the Civil War, Military , National Order of the Medal of Honor Medal Association of Naval Veterans, Confederate of Honor Legion, United the Con- Veterans, United Daughters of Confederate federacy, United Sons of Veterans. Before the war with Spain the Order of the Indian Wars and the Society of were estab- Veterans of Indian Wars lished. The Spanish War gave birth to of the the Naval and Military Order Spanish-American War, United Spanish Riders' Associa- War Veterans, Rough of a similar tion and others. Societies character are the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, Thomas Association and the Jefferson Memorial like. The World War has likewise seen the formation of many societies, such as the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars. The number of these increase. societies is on the
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote this in 1921 it listed the Grand Army of the Republic and the United Confederate Veterans as going concerns; both are gone, the GAR holding its last encampment in 1949 and the UCV its last reunion in 1951, with the final Union veteran, Albert Woolson, dying in 1956. The two newcomers Collier's mentions almost in passing, the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, became the giants of the field, the Legion counting well over two million members at its peak, while most of the hereditary colonial and Revolutionary orders on this list shrank into small genealogical societies. The Daughters of the American Revolution, still substantial, spent much of the century living down its 1939 refusal to let the black singer Marian Anderson perform in Constitution Hall. The sharpest reversal is in the Confederate societies: the monuments the United Daughters of the Confederacy erected as acts of commemoration have since 2015 been removed by the hundreds as public symbols of white supremacy.
Written for this edition, 2026.