Wilcox County's UDC Chapter is the oldest chapter in all of Alabama

Sallie Cargill Jones

Tomorrow – March 26 – will mark 124 years since a group of Wilcox County women formed Alabama’s first official chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), an organization that still works to preserve the memory of those who fought for the Confederacy through historic preservation and education efforts.

According to the 1989 book “Men of Wilcox: They Wore the Gray” by Ouida Starr Woodson, Alabama’s first UDC chapter – Alabama Charter Chapter No. 36 – was organized in Camden on March 26, 1896 with Miss Sallie Cargill Jones as president. At that time, Alabama Charter Chapter No. 36 was the only UDC chapter in the entire state of Alabama.

“Miss Jones and most of the other charter members of Alabama Charter Chapter No. 36 remembered the days of the war,” Woodson wrote. “They had sent their brothers, fathers, husbands and friends to war with words of encouragement and love. During those perilous years, they worked to keep their homes and families safe, as well as to provide the necessities of life for the men on the battle lines. When death came to a son of Wilcox, they mourned his loss.”

In addition to Sallie Jones, there were 28 other ladies on the Camden UDC chapter’s original charter. Those women included Mrs. E.J. Bailey Sr., Miss Ada Beck, Mrs. Mary T. Beck, Mrs. William J. Bonner, Miss Mamie E. Boykin, Miss. B. McRea Boykin, Mrs. W.W. Boykin, Mrs. S.H. Bragg, Miss Fannie Campbell, Miss Willie Dexter, Miss Bettie Felts, Miss Anita Gaillard, Miss Kate Gaillard, Mrs. William A. George, Mrs. Sallie B. Horn, Mrs. E.N. Jones, Mrs. J. Paul Jones, Mrs. J.Y. Kilpatrick, Mrs. Dan McLeod, Miss Mamie McLeod, Miss Ervie McWilliams, Mrs. Ellen Moore, Miss Emma D. Moore, Mrs. S.D. Moore, Mrs. E.O. Rentz, Miss Jennie Rentz, Mrs. W.F. Spurlin and Mrs. S.J. Walling. No doubt these women probably have many descendants still living in Wilcox County today.

A few years before, many of these same women played a major role in forming the Ladies Memorial and Wilcox Monument associations, which funded the erection of the Confederate monument that can still be seen today in the Camden Cemetery. This monument was erected in April 1880 to honor the Confederate dead from Wilcox County. Despite the financial hardships of Reconstruction, the Ladies Memorial and Wilcox Monument associations raised $1,545.45 to pay for the monument, which is around $34,300 in today’s dollars.

The original members of Camden’s UDC chapter also collected many of the war service records connected with soldiers from Wilcox County. In fact, much of what is known today about these soldiers is due to their efforts. If not for their efforts, much of this information would have likely been lost forever.

Camden’s UDC chapter was also one of the seven original chapters that made up the Alabama Division of the UDC, which was officially formed in April 1897. The other original chapters were located in Auburn, Birmingham, Montgomery, Selma and Tuscaloosa. The Alabama Division of the UDC is still a thriving organization today as is Camden’s Alabama Charter Chapter No. 36.

Membership in the UDC is open to any woman, at least 16 years old, who is a lineal or collateral blood descendant of men and women who served honorably in the Army, Navy, or Civil Service of the Confederate States of America, or who gave material aid to the Southern fighting effort. Also eligible are those women who are lineal or collateral blood descendants of members or former members of the UDC. For more information about the organization and its membership requirements, visit its website at alabamadivisionudc.weebly.com.