CSS Dixieland

Probing the depths of knowledge

These essays by P. A. Stonemann, CSS Dixieland, cover a wide range of historical, philosophical, scientifical and technical subjects. Each page deals with a particular topic, divided into sections and explained by itself. Every page shows at its top hyper links to every other page. The Start page also has short descriptions of the other pages. CSS Dixieland expresses gratitude to the readers that make this work meaningful.

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Confederate Migration page

Confederates who chose migration
rather than accept foreign occupation

Five Ladies Confederadas at the Confederate Festival in Santa Barbara d'Oeste, Sāo Paulo

Sections in this page

  History of the migration

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History of the migration

Dixieland: the Birth of a Nation

In the year 1607 a group of colonists crossed the Atlantic and landed at a desolate spot on the shores of North America. They named the place Jamestown, in honour to their Scottish King, James I Stuart. It was the commencement of the first permanent British colony, Virginia, cradle of the Dixie Nation. In 1649 the Cavaliers arrived, carrying with them the Aristocratic Tradition that was to become a permanent Dixie characteristic. New colonies were also founded, and later transformed into independent states. In 1861 these independent Dixie states formed the Confederate States of America. At once, an evil foreign empire of dubious military quality, but of enormous industrial power, launched a war onto us for no reason. The enemy lost more soldiers than the soldiers that we had, but it managed to steal our land in 1865. Not surprisingly, the name of that evil empire is the United States of America. Since then, we are fighting to restore our lost Independence.

This is the story of those who did not accept surrender, of those who chose to abandon home and land rather than living under the foreign Yankee occupation of our national soil, of the Confederate States of America. It is the incredible feat of a valiant portion of Dixies who remained stubbornly enemies of the United States of America, who did not accept to be "reconstructed", let alone "galvanised". It is a fine chapter in the warrying History of the Aryan Race, for the example and inspiration of our future generations.

Those who refused to surrender:
Confederate migration to Brazil, 1865-1885 and beyond.

We were losing the war. In spite of our gallant and desperate fight, already lasting over four years, we were bitterly unable to keep our national independence against foreign invaders who had many more weapons, soldiers and industrial power than we had. In a fight of equal numbers our grey Dixie soldiers, used as they were to a natural and healthy life in the country side, demonstrated a military quality many times superior to that of the city dwelling, shop attendant and factory worker blue belly Yankees. This fact came into evidence when Union General Ulysses Grant realised that he had lost more soldiers than the soldiers that his opponent had, Confederate General Robert Lee.

Sadly, righteous causes do not necessarily win wars. We were not the first nation in History that had been unjustly attacked by a would-be imperial power, we should not be the last either. Union General William Sherman burnt Atlanta for no reason, in April 1865 our capital city of Richmond was occupied, Confederate General Robert Lee finally surrendered in Virginia the hungry and ragged remnants of his once mighty regiments, Confederate General Joseph Johnston surrendered in North Carolina some days later, the Trans-Mississippi region followed in few weeks, and at last Galveston, Texas, stood as the only Confederate fort. It was occupied by our foes in early June.

Some resolute men tried to continue our heroical fight anyway:
Confederate Generals Stand Watie and Kirby Smith followed the formal guerrilla tactics that had made a famous leader of Confederate General John Hunt Morgan in the Copperhead States of Ohio and Indiana, and of Confederate Colonel John Mosby in Virginia. Other men mustered informal guerrilla forces, as it was the case of Quantrill and of the James brothers. Finally, there were others who saw better solution in withdrawing from Confederate soil, with the hope of being able from foreign soil to muster again forces enough for the re-claiming of our beloved land from the hands of the burglar Yankees who had taken it. In the meantime, carpetbaggers and scalawags dominated the nightmare of the "reconstruction".

Thus, the whole regiment of Confederate Colonel J. O. Shelby crossed into Mexico, where it received a very warm welcome by Mexican Emperor Maximiliano I de Habsburg. The Confederate States Ship Shenandoah made a long ocean crossing to England, and late in 1865 it asked and received political refuge under the protection of Her British Majesty. Most British possessions in the Americas received Confederate emigrees: Canada, Bermuda, British Honduras (seven thousand Confederates went to what is today Belize), Cuba and Puerto Rico (at that time Spanish colonies), Colombia (independent), and other American lands. They all knew their share of Confederate nationals. There were Confederate expatriates also in Europe, in South Africa, and even in Australia, making a ridiculous clown of that Yankee propaganda of the "American dream", or of the even worse "land of freedom that receives everyone with open arms". Thousands of genuine North Americans chose the exile rather than that kind of "freedom". An awesome number of three million Confederates left Dixie, heading in different directions. Not so good for Uncle Sam's boastful propaganda.

And in this gallery of generous monarchs, the Brazilian one could not be less. Dom Pedro II de Braganza issued an official invitation through his diplomats and consuls in North America, proposing very attractive conditions for those Confederates who would choose to abandon Yankee occupied soil for good, and settle themselves in huge Brazil instead. They were offered a free passage by sea and cheap land for farming. Brazil had sympathised with the Confederacy during the War and risked its own security by harbouring Confederate ships in distress (the CSS Florida, in particular). Dom Pedro became a press celebrity in Dixie North America, the New Orleans Picayune printed a poem acclaiming him and his country.

The Confederates made their way at different times, in several ships departing from various North American ports and bound for Belem do Para, Rio de Janeiro and Santos (near Sao Paulo). They came from all over the Confederacy, but the biggest groups were from Alabama, Texas and South Carolina, with Louisiana and Mississippi represented next. The contingent at Belem do Para was the smallest, it made its way by river to Santarem and settled there. The Emperor in person gave a reception to those who went to Rio de Janeiro, at that time the capital city of Brazil. From Rio some Confederates colonised the Vale do Rio Doce in Espiritu Santo, others chose to stay in the capital of the country.

The biggest in number was the contingent that went to Santos, whence they continued to Sao Paulo de Piratininga, Campinas, Juqua, Xiririca, and mainly to Santa Barbara d'Oeste. They also founded Vila Americana and New Texas. Americana has today a population of two hundred thousand, and it is the only city in Brazil with a coat of arms that has a Confederate flag as its centre piece. It is a sugar-cane growing region about 85 miles (130 Kilometres) Northwest of Sao Paulo. The soil is fertile and brick-red in colour, because of its abundance of clay. In fact, it is very similar to that found in Alabama or in Mississippi and very good for growing cotton. Today, tourism is a major industry in Americana. Visitors come from round Brazil and even from round the world to see the historic Confederate cemetery and to hear English language in South America, spoken with a Dixie drawl.

His Brazilian Majesty knew that the Confederates would be a great help for the development of Brazil, as in fact it came to happen, due to their expertise in farming and cotton planting. As it had been foreseen by the Emperor, the Confederates left their print in Brazil. They brought the mark of civilisation to this country. Nearby Brazilians, watching the Confederates setting up their plantations, noted their modern agricultural techniques and copied them. Today, these Brazilian farms stand out and are recognised as quite advanced over the traditional, primitive planting techniques in the rest of the country. Prior to the Confederate colonisation, Brazil did not know the modern forms of the plough, spade, harrow, or rake. Houses with chimneys, gutters and window sashes became known in Brazil as "English houses". Then, as now, these pioneers were known as Confederados.

The extent of their impact is hard to describe. Brazil was already a 'real country' in the Portuguese mold, but it is fair to say that the Confederates turned it into a modern one. No official numbers exist about how many Confederates migrated to Brazil. The lowest estimates give four thousand, while the highest give twenty thousand. It may be closer to the truth to accept the number as nine thousand to ten thousand. Now imagine: Your ancestors were migrants from a country that no longer exists as an internationally recognised sovereign nation, but which was never officially dissolved. You want to move whither that country used to be. Which Your nationality is ? Children born anywhere in the world from United States parents are automatically accepted as United States nationals if they choose so, except apparently, if their parents fled from the Yankee peril to Brazil. The Federal Government of the United States issued a general amnesty to Confederates in 1872, but not to Confederados ! A Confederada lady uncertain of her status contacted the Immigration Service in the 1970's. "Confederate States of America !!!" the nice man said. And referred her to the Department of State (Foreign Affairs Office).

Among the Confederate imports to Brazil was the MacKenzie University of Sao Paulo. The University is recognised as one of the best in Latin America, especially in its School of Engineering. There are dozens of Confederate schools in Brazil, which have helped to shape the country's educational system. The "Cruzada pela Infancia" (Crusade for Children) is an institution that was founded by Perola Byngton, a remarkable Confederada Lady who has a square with her name in the city of Sao Paulo. In the twentieth century a big number of Confederados went into different professions... so successfully that Brazilians came to believe that an odontologist almost had to be a Confederado for being effective. Likewise, many of Brazil's railways and vast public works projects were constructed by companies owned or managed by Confederados, or who became part of British companies that took much of the planning and construction of the railway and electric power systems that exist in Brazil today.

And where are the Confederados today ? Still here in considerable numbers, calculated to be about a hundred thousand. The modern Confederados know nothing of liberal propaganda when it comes to their Confederate heritage, nothing of stupid 'political correctness'. They revere and celebrate their ancestry openly. The seal of the city of Americana even has the Confederate flag and Confederate soldiers in it !

One of the emigrees, Doctor James McFadden Gaston, wrote in 1867 the book 'Hunting a Home in Brazil', replete with maps, posters and photographs. It examines the basis for Dixie colonisation of Brazil and the perspectives of those who settled in Gaston's colony at Xiririca, near Iguape. Additionally, the text traces settlements planted by Colonel William Norris at Santa Barbara d'Oeste, by Frank McMullen at New Texas, by the Reverend Ballard Dunn at Lizzieland, by Charles Gunter at Linhares, in the Vale do Rio Doce, and by Warren Hastings at Santarem, in the River Amazon. Years later, a part of these Confederate colonists went to the region of Vila Americana and Santa Barbara d'Oeste, where most of them concentrated.

The Confederados came to establish new homes in a country where slavery existed and where cotton might once again become king. After Doctor Gaston's book, the oldest texts about the Confederados are:

In the XIX Century:
A diary entitled 'Our Life in Brazil, April 1867 - August 1870', by Julia Keyes, compiled in 1874, giving the story of their experiences when they emigrated to Brazil following the fall of the Confederacy.
'Brazilian Recollections', an undated reminiscence by Lucy Judkins Durr.

In the XX Century:
'Confederates in Brazil', 7 April 1969, a typescript by Frances Walker.
'Gunter, Gaston, and the Graveyard', published by James in the July-August 1971 issue of Sandlapper magazine.
'The Lost Colony of the Confederacy', by Eugene C. Harter, University of Mississippi Press, 1985.
'Soldado, Descansa ! Uma epopeia Norte Americana sob os ceus do Brasil', by Judith Mc Knight Jones. Americana.
'Preservando nossa historia', by Celia Gobbo. Americana.
'Tombstone Records of the Campo Cemetery', Graficas do Senado Federal, Brasilia.
'Os Confederados em Santarem', by Norma Guillen.
'The Confederados, Old South Immigrants in Brazil', by B. Dawsey and James M. Dawsey.

Confederate nationals continued migrating to Brazil as late as 1999, for what is known. At least two Confederate groups currently have members in Brazil. One is the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the other is the League of the South. The first is a cultural association focused on keeping traditional heritage. They display United States flags. Rather mild people...
The second is a political organisation bravely fighting for the Independence of the Confederate States of America at the present time in History.
Hardcore !!!
United States flags are correctly seen as what they are: the symbols of the enemy.
A fight that goes on.

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