Since the end of the War Between the States, much had been written and said by all those
who wish to find the truth behind America's bloodiest and most disheartening war. Few
realize that this War took more lives than all of America's other wars together. The War
Between the States took more than 600,000 lives and ruined the Southern economy. The scars
would take decades to heal. The immigration of Southerners to Brazil following the War is
an interesting and curious event connected with the War. This immigration was a direct
result of the outcome of the War.
This wave of immigration, which may have included up to 9,000 people, has left in Brazil a
community of descendants of Southern immigrants. They are identified as the
"Confederados". The descendants are all over the country, but the largest
community, and by far de most important is located in the State of Săo Paulo. This
community, founded by the Southerners, has grown into the town of Americana. Americana and
its older mother city, Vila Santa Bárbara (today Santa Bárbara D'Oeste), a few miles
apart, are the gravity center of the community of Southern descendants in Brazil. Since
1954, the Fraternity of American Descendants has held headquarters there.
The descendants gather at the Campo Cemetery every quarter session of the year, on its
second Sunday, for a religious service, a discussion of topics related to Fraternity, and
a traditional lunch. Each family brings dishes, desserts, drinks and all present enjoy
Brazilian and Southern favorites in a communal style. The old-timers chat in the familiar
Southern drawl, while children run and play, speaking Portuguese and very little English.
The Campo Cemetery is located on the countryside, surrounded by sugar cane fields. It is
10 miles from Americana and Santa Bárbara D´Oeste. These two cities are 100 miles from
Săo Paulo, Brazil's largest city and capital of Săo Paulo State.
"Soldier rest! Thy warfare o´er
Sleep the sleep that knows no breaking
Days of toil or nights of waking"
This is the inscription found on the tombstone of Confederate Veteran Napoleon Bonaparte
McAlpine, who rests together with a number of other Confederate Veterans and Confederado
leaders in the Campo Cemetery.
Of these, the most prominent and the real founder of the Confederate colony was Colonel
William Hutchinson Norris, a native of Oglethorpe, Ga. He moved to Alabama and later
served as a Senator, after living for several years in Dallas, Texas. Colonel Norris was a
lawyer and is mentioned in the book "Reminiscences of Public Men of Alabama".
When the carpetbaggers swarmed into the South at the close of War, Colonel Norris gathered
and made his way to Brazil. Emperor Dom Pedro II welcomed the Southerners in person there,
thanks to contacts Colonel Norris had with the Masons and to Brazil's need of agricultural
skills of the Southern planters, especially in cotton farming. Contrary to some biased
accounts, the Southerners did not immigrate to Brazil in a futile attempt to perpetuate
slavery. When the immigrants arrived, the slave system in Brazil was in decline and
slavery was peacefully abolished in 1888.
Colonel Norris, a veteran of the Mexican War, was in his sixties when the War Between the
States raged. His sons, Reece, Frank, Robert and Clay, all served. Robert Norris served in
the 15th Alabama Infantry under Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, in the Army of
Northern Virginia. After 57 engagements, only 247 of the 1250 in the regiment were left.
Robert was wounded several times and in 1864 was captured and sent to a Union prison, Fort
Delaware.
There are many other Confederados of whom we have military information, thanks to the Sons
of Confederate Veterans. There were Lucien and George Barnsley, of the 5th Georgia
Infantry, from Rome, Floyd County, Ga. (This unit was known as the Rome Light Guards).
Lucien was a captain. George was a medical officer (See listing for additional
information).
The immigrants bought land in the State of Săo Paulo at 22 cents an acre, and in the
States of Pará, Espírito Santo, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and Santa Catarina; some went to
Santarém, Pará State, the Vale do Rio Doce region as well as to Iguape and most to Vila
Santa Bárbara. The community that grew up around Vila Santa Bárbara was the most
important and would grow into Americana, now an important textile center.
The Campo Cemetery, later to become the spiritual center of the Confederate colony in
Brazil, was founded because of laws that restricted the burial of Non-Catholics in the
Catholic Cemetery grounds, after Beatrice Oliver died in 1868. The Southerners decided to
follow the Southern tradition and dedicated God's Acre as a burial place for their dead.
The old Oliver farm was in a convenient place and its highest spot was not adequate for
cultivation. It became the unofficial cemetery of the community, and in 1955, the
Fraternity of American Descendants was founded, in part to maintain the cemetery. After
many years, Sonny Pyles donated the plot legally to the Fraternity. During the first years
in Brazil, the Southerners avoided mingling with other Brazilians, for cultural reasons.
However, as the colony evolved and immigrants from many parts of world arrived, they
turned into real Brazilian and married Italians, Poles, Germans, Dutch and, believe it or
not, Russians!
The Russian immigrants are an interesting part of Brazilian history. A Russian community
was founded only five miles from Americana named New Odessa. During the Cold War, the
Brazilians marveled at the lack of friction between the two groups, unaware of the fact
that the Confederados were not Yankees and that the Russian immigrants were not Red
Russians!
Today the Campo Cemetery is the testament of the most successful Southern colony founded
after the War Between the States. Some of those who immigrated to Brazil returned to the
United States in later years. Those who remained assimilated into Brazilian society. Very
few of the people who live today in Americana trace their ancestry to the Southern
immigrants. The descendants of the 400 or 500 families that stayed in Brazil are scattered
throughout the country, many living in large cities. Despite this, the Confederados have
managed to found and maintain an Immigration Museum in Santa Bárbara D'Oeste and the
Fraternity is doing very well, with a vibrant Board of Directors and an affluent
membership. Today, the Confederate descendants consider themselves Brazilians, speak the
language and have adopted local customs and manners.
However, one cannot go to a Fraternity meeting and avoid the strange feeling that
somewhere, somehow, there is a part that always seems to be missing... The Southern heart
so deeply wounded in the battlefields of the War.