The Lost Colony of the Confederacy

Eugene C. Harter

Narrated by Karey James Kimmel

Available from Audible

Book published by Texas A&M University Press

The Lost Colony of the Confederacy is the story of a grim, quixotic journey of twenty thousand Confederates to Brazil at the end of the American Civil War.

Although it is not known how many Confederates migrated to South America—estimates range from eight thousand to forty thousand—their departure was fueled by bitterness over a lost cause and a distaste for an oppressive victor. Encouraged by Emperor Dom Pedro, most of these exiles settled in Brazil.

Although at the time of the Civil War the exodus was widely known and discussed as an indicator of the resentment against the Northern invaders and strict governmental measures, The Lost Colony of the Confederacy is the first book to focus on this mass migration.

Eugene Harter vividly describes the lives of these last Confederates who founded their own city and were called Os Confederados. They retained much of their Southernness and lent an American flavor to Brazilian culture. First published in 1985, this work details the background of the exodus and describes the life of the twentiethcentury descendants, who have a strong link both to Southern history and to modern Brazil.

The fires have cooled, but it is useful to understand the intense feelings that sparked the migration to Brazil. Southern ways have melded into Brazilian, and both are linked by the unbreakable bonds of history, as shown in this revealing account.

Eugene C. Harter retired from the U.S. Senior Foreign Service and lived in Chestertown, Maryland, until his death in 2010. He was the grandson and great grandson of Confederates who left Texas and Mississippi as a part of the great Confederate migration in the late 1860s.

REVIEWS:

“I have seldom read a book that I enjoyed as much as The Lost Colony of the Confederacy –- and I think that you will, too. To the best of my knowledge, this is the only such complete book on the subject–if not, surely it is the best. And, no better set of textbook examples of harmonious social integration is imaginable!”

—The Manhattan Mercury