# The End of the Confederacy -- in Brazil **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 7, 2022, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-confederacy-in-brazil/971138 "2022-09-07T14:01:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2022, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-confederacy-in-brazil/971138/1 "2022-09-07T14:01:57Z")
I’ve been fascinated in recent years by the story of the Confederados – descendants of people from the Confederate States of America who fled to Brazil after the end of the Civil War, unwilling to live in a US that outlawed slavery. 10,000-20,000 of them went to Brazil, where Dom Pedro welcomed them, figuring they would bring the skllls to raise cotton and give a boost to the Brazilian economy. They founded the town of Americana, bought slaves (still legal there at the time), started plantations, and continued to revere the Confederacy, folding celebrations and flying the Confederate flag. Photos of these have popped up in recent years, showing the descendants of an unrepentant group of Confederates who hold that their land was invaded by a hostile force and they were driven out of their land and lifestyle. > **[Confederados](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederados)** > > Os Confederados (Portuguese pronunciation: \[kõfedeˈɾadus\]) is the Brazilian name for Confederate expatriates who fled the Southern United States during Reconstruction, and their Brazilian descendants. They were enticed to Brazil by offers of cheap land from Emperor Dom Pedro II, who had hoped to gain expertise in cotton farming. > It is estimated that up to 20,000 American Confederates emigrated to the Empire of Brazil from the Southern United States after the American Civil War. Initially, mos... > **[They lost the Civil War and fled to Brazil. Their descendants refuse to take...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/brazil-confederate-flag-civil-war-americana-santa-barbara/2020/07/11/1e8a7c84-bec4-11ea-b4f6-cb39cd8940fb_story.html)** > > Brazil’s confederados gather in Sao Paulo state each year to celebrate all things Dixie. As in the United States, calls are growing for a reassessment. > **[The Confederacy Made Its Last Stand in Brazil](https://www.history.com/news/confederacy-in-brazil-civil-war)** > > After the Civil War, more than 10,000 Southerners left the U.S. rather than submit to Yankee rule. All this may come to an end sometime soon. A new municipal law, passed unanimously, bans the use of racist symbols. It specifically calls out the Confederate flag. This is driven in part by the taking down of Confederate symbols and monuments in the US, and also by the fact that the descendants of the Confederates have intermarried with locals and other immigrants to the point where those supporting the old ways and the old views are no longer in the majority. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. > **[New law could mark end of American Confederacy – in Brazil](https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2022/0816/New-law-could-mark-end-of-American-Confederacy-in-Brazil)** > > A Brazilian community struggles to balance celebrating its unique heritage by flying the Confederate flag with shifting cultural tides. Brazil wasn’t the only place where this kind of thing occurred. There was a plan for Confederate colony in Mexico, but they couldn’t bring slaves. And the effort disappeared with the fall of Emperor Maximilian > **[New Virginia Colony](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Virginia_Colony)** > > The New Virginia Colony was a colonization plan in central Mexico, to resettle ex-Confederates after the American Civil War. The largest settlement was Carlota, approximately midway between Mexico City and Veracruz, although other settlements were planned near Tampico, Monterrey, Cuernavaca, and Chihuahua. > The venture was conceived by Commodore Matthew Fontaine Maury. Because of his work for the Confederate Secret Service, Maury was unable to return home to Virginia. Maury, as an internationally... There had been plans to set up other colonies elsewhere, but I don’t know if any of the others amounted to anything. Edited to add – evidently there was an attempt in what is today Belize [Confederate colonies - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_colonies#:~:text=Confederate%20colonies%20were%20made%20up,British%20Honduras%20(modern%20Belize)). > **[Confederate settlements in British Honduras](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_settlements_in_British_Honduras)** > > The Confederate Settlements in British Honduras are a cultural and ethnic sub-group in Belize, formerly known as the colony of British Honduras. They are the descendants of Confederates who fled to British Honduras with their families during and after the American Civil War. > As the American Civil War erupted, British colonial leaders saw an opportunity to profit from the sale of arms and weapons to the Confederate States. Soon a profitable trade in arms to Americans boosted the colonial economy... ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2022, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-confederacy-in-brazil/971138/2 "2022-09-07T14:10:28Z")
In a fictional variant (F. Scott FItzgerald’s “A Diamond As Big As The Ritz”), a “southern aristocrat” escapes Virginia to perpetuate his version of the Confederacy. He sets up shop in a supposedly unsurveyed tract of Montana, along with trusting slaves who were deceived by a fake proclamation that the South won the Civil War. It does not end especially well. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2022, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-confederacy-in-brazil/971138/3 "2022-09-07T14:51:11Z")
The southern part of Utah, around St. George, is called “Utah’s Dixie” because they grew cotton there. (Until July of this year there was a Dixie State University there. It’s now Utah Tech University in response to the poor reception of “Dixie”). Perhaps not surprisingly, there were black slaves in Utah, and Brigham Young advocated for continuing the institution, and in 1852 passed an act officially recognizing it. I don’t know if any slaves were involved in the cotton farming, but it wouldn’t be surprising. Nevertheless, Confederates couldn’t retreat to Utah to continue operations In 1862 Congress prohibited slavery in US territories, including Utah. There were, in fact, Utah slaveholders who went to the CSA in order to keep their slaves. ---
**Author:** ![Retzbu\_Tox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/retzbu_tox/32/11829_2.png) [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2022, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-confederacy-in-brazil/971138/4 "2022-09-07T17:49:35Z")
I have never heard of the Confederados before. That’s wild. I will have to look for more information about them. I am curious whether they have maintained any affiliation or association with groups in the US that idolize or celebrate the Confederacy. (Example: Do members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy take vacations in Brazil to visit Americana?) Did the Confederados support or have any association with Nazis who fled to South America after WWII? ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2022, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-confederacy-in-brazil/971138/5 "2022-09-07T17:59:56Z")
I’ve heard of these folks before, and find the idea rather fascinating; I’m used to thinking of the United States as an amalgam of different ethnicities - Vietnamese-Americans, Irish-Americans, Italian-Americans, Native Americans, and so on. Weird to think of the US as the source ethnicity. Incidentally, part of the reason that there weren’t more Confederate exiles was that Robert E. Lee, the _de facto_ leader of the South after the war, encouraged Southerners to reconcile with the government and help rebuild their homes. “Virginia needs her sons”, he said. ---
**Author:** ![Retzbu\_Tox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/retzbu_tox/32/11829_2.png) [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-confederacy-in-brazil/971138/6 "2022-09-07T18:16:47Z")
Answering one of my own questions, apparently there may be some association between American and Brazilian descendants of the Confederacy. According to Wikipedia, Brazilian **Confederados** sometimes are hosted by American **Sons of Confederate Veterans** to tour Civil War battlefields or participate in reenactments.