June 8, 1865---The Confederados

JUNE 8, 1865:            

Mexico was not the only nation to which Confederate exiles traveled as the war ended. Confederate officials and agents already in foreign jurisdictions remained there. A number of Confederates managed to enter Canada (the popular actor Nathan Fillion claims descent from Jubal Early during Early’s time in Canada) or Cuba or the Caribbean islands. Small numbers went to Latin America, particularly Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, and Colombia. A rather larger number, including John C. Breckinridge and Judah P. Benjamin as well as Confederate spymaster and shipbuilder James Dunwoody Bulloch, chose to travel to or remain in Great Britain.  

Before he became President, Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia traveled to Brazil to participate in the annual festa held by descendants of the Confederados

There was a general diaspora in which very small numbers of Confederates settled in most European capitals. A few traveled to Shanghai and Hong Kong looking for an entrée to the tea trade.

One of the largest and most successful Confederate settlements developed in Brazil. Dom Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil, wanted (like Maximilian I of Mexico) to develop a cotton economy, and like Maximilian I, Dom Pedro II had no problem with permitting slave ownership. Between 1865 and 1885, some 20,000 American southerners, including war veterans, wives, children, other relations, and slaves, settled in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Santarem, and Parana. The town of Americana was founded by the exiles, who were (and are) called Confederados. They also opened the first Baptist churches in the country.

Racially mixed Brazil broke down most of the social barriers considered intrinsic by the Confederates. By the third generation, most Confederados spoke Brazilian Portuguese, and had intermarried freely with the natives. The black slaves were first educated, then emancipated, and then became the social equals (and eventual relatives) of the descendants of the white Confederados.

Today’s Confederados consider themselves a racially mixed community, and thoroughly Brazilian, though a Fraternal Order is maintained by those descended from the North Americans. This year’s festa honors 150 years of Confederado life.   

Although most of the young ladies in this photograph are fair-skinned, Confederados today come in all skin tones. American tourists are often shocked to see Afro-Brazilians waving the Confederate flag and dressing in the gray uniform. Both slaves and freeborn blacks traveled to Brazil along with white Confederate expats. Within three generations (we are now at the seventh) race ceased to be a defining factor within their community