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The Lost Colony of the Confederacy. By Eugene C. Harter.
Jackson, Miss.: University Press of Mississippi, 1985; third
printing, 1988 Pp xiv, 141. Illustrations, notes, and index.
The end of hostilities between Confederate and Union armies
in 1865 marked the beginning of a new struggle for many southern-
ers. Returning from military defeat on the battlefield most
Confederate soldiers found financial poverty, devastated home-
lands, and political disenfranchisement waiting for them. For
many the future was bleak, at best, and emigration offered the
most practicable opportunity for restoring their shattered lives.
As many as three million left for the american west and north,
and a lesser number to other countries.
A significant amount, perhaps as many as twenty thousand,
chose to begin their lives anew in Brazil. The South's Defeat in
war had been followed by the policy of congressional radicals
labeled Reconstruction. Military occupation coupled with social
upheaval and political restructuring acted as a catalyst for many
Confederates' desire to escape their devastated region. For
most, however, the option of emigrating was not practicable, and
many leaders such as General Robert E. Lee actively opposed these
ventures.
Although Brazil still recognized slavery, the imminent
elimination of this institution was decidedly forecast by the end
of the American Civil War, and desires to continue its perpetua-
tion probably held little appeal for the defeated southerners.
On the other hand, the South American country was appealing for a
variety of other reasons. The climate was similar to the emi-
gres' native South, labor was cheap, and Brazil practiced a high
degree of religious and political tolerance.
Although the former Confederates began several colonies,
many failed to make it past the 1870s. Nonetheless, a village in
Sao Palo located near the railroad, and called Villa Americana by
the natives, was destined to prosper and survive into the twenti-
eth century.
In 1918 an American Geographical Society expedition visited
the colony and reported their findings in the April 1928 issue of
the Geographical Review. Their report chauvinisticly reported
that the Confederados were unhappy, living in squalor, and worse
off than they would have been living under Federal control in the
defeated South.
Contrary to the Geographical Review's report, most Confed-
erados had adapted well to their new country and had prospered.
Considering the conditions that existed in the 1865 South,
anything would have been an improvement. Brazil offered the
opportunity to prosper and, despite the return of a few disen-
chanted colonists, the majority made the most of their new lives
and eventually merged into Brazilian society.
The Lost Colony of the Confederacy was written by a descen-
dant of the Confederate immigrants. Eugene Harter returned to
the United States in 1935 where he completed his education and
embarked upon a career in journalism. In 1971 he returned to
Brazil as the United States consul. While renewing acquaintances
Harter realized that not a single book had been devoted to this
aspect of the War Between the States.
Harter has provided a valuable addition to the historiogra-
phy of the post war era. Mostly ignored by historians and
maligned by the northern press, the Confederados made an impor-
tant statement about the war and Reconstruction not previously
available to students of nineteenth-century America. Harter has
corrected this oversight. To understand how deeply southerners
embraced their independence and separation from their northern
cousins one must understand how deeply they resented reunifica-
tion. For a large number reunification was less desirable than a
completely new start in a new country.
Memphis State University Douglas W. Cupples