DESPITE the American Civil War ending nearly 160 years ago – there was still one place in the world where the Confederate South was seemingly alive and well.
Welcome to the town of Santa Bárbara d’Oeste – where the descendants of some 20,000 fleeing American soldiers live.
Still flying the Confederacy’s infamous blue cross on a red background with white stars for well over a century – the bloody Civil War cast a long shadow here in South America.
For years, those who lived here embraced their history and their association with the so-called “Confederados” – Southerners who fled to the US as the country was rebuilt after victory by the Union.
Descendants of the defeated soldiers who fled formed the Fraternity of American Descendants (FDA).
And they for years held an annual festival called dubbed the “Festa Confederada” – celebrating the culture of their heritage, such as music, food and dance.
Organisers always insisted the event was not connected with the political associations with the Confederate flag – which is often linked with racist rhetoric and is banned in some parts of the United States.
But now, from 2025 they have decided to finally cut loose the last associations with their past – instead renaming the festival the “Festa dos Americans”.
The Confederate flags in the town will now be painted over – such as the symbol emblazoned on an obelisk in the town centre featuring the family names of Southern soldiers.
FDA chiefs insist the party will now be focused on celebrating American immigration as a whole, not just their past linked to the Civil War.
Marcelo Sans Dodson told a council meeting this month about the changes.
“We want to work on reconciliation, pacification and join forces against those who are truly racist,” he said
“The institution, feeling that it created discomfort for the city and for black people, decided to rethink its position.”
Supporters of the Confederate flag often insist the flag is merely a representation of pride in the American South – often being associated with country music and TV show the Dukes of Hazzard.
But critics have said its a potent symbol of slavery and white supremacy – with the flag sometimes being featured at neo-Nazi events alongside swastikas and other hate-filled symbols.
US President-elect Donald Trump has previously defended the flag – and criticised efforts to remove Confederate war monuments back in the states.
In 2020, the then sitting president said: “They love their flag, it represents the South.
“They like the South … I say it’s freedom of many things, but it’s freedom of speech.”
With the “Confederados” finally ditching the flag as their symbol – in some ways it brings an end to the final holdout of the Confederate States of America.
It comes nearly 160 years after the brutal war that killed more than 600,000 people ended with a victory for the Union.
Back in May 1865, the American Civil War drew to a close after the major Confederate armies surrendered to the North.
After the war ended, the Union added 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the constitution.
These amendments abolished slavery, guaranteed citizens “equal protection under the law,” and granted black men the right to vote.
Unbelievable volumes of economic damage along with ruined infrastructure struck the South and its soldiers after the war.
Meanwhile the Confederate President Jefferson Davis was locked up, leaving the Southern Confederates with no leader.
From prison, he urged Southerners to remain in the former states of the Confederacy and rebuild it.
But some could not face the loss – or the idea of living under what they saw as a foreign occupation.
Why did the Civil War start?
THE Civil War between northern states loyal to the Union and the Confederate States began over uncompromising differences on slavery, secession, and expansion.
The conflict raged from 1861 to 1865 and accounted for more than 600,000 deaths – by far the greatest war death toll in American history.
The Civil War started over a disagreement between northern and southern states over the right to keep slaves.
While America was experiencing a period of rapid growth in the Mid 19th century, vast economic differences existed between the northern and southern regions.
Manufacturing was well established in the north, while the south’s economy was supported by agriculture and a system of large-scale cotton and tobacco farming that was dependent on black slave labor.
Seven southern states seceded from the north after Abraham Lincoln came to power in 1860.
Lincoln was the first Republican president elected who pledged to abolish slavery, threatening the southern states’ economic foundations and way of life.
The Confederacy spanned the Deep South, beginning as Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina, and Texas. They were later joined by Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina by the time the war was declared in 1861.
Confederate loyalists including Col. William Hutchinson Norris and Maj. Lansford Hastings instead took off to the slave-holding Empire of Brazil and established colonies dubbed Confederados.
A whopping 10,000 to 20,000 Confederates – also deeply unhappy with the Civil War loss – followed them.
Massively popular destinations were Honduras, Mexico and Egypt where former Confederate officials were invited to do military commissions.
But this wasn’t enough for the white supremacists, who believed that only Brazil would be suitable.
In the same year the Civil War ended, Brazil was ruled by Dom Pedro II who was a descendant of the Portuguese royal family.
He was heavily wanting to attract foreigners into the country and even offered safe harbours to Confederate ships throughout the war.
Despite his personal opposition to slavery, he didn’t seem to mind bringing slave-holding Confederates to Brazil.
Monarch Dom Pedro offered transportation to Brazil and even land available for as little as an unbelievable 22 cents per acre.
Thousands of Southerners saw this as an opportunity for a new life, selling off their possessions and began to make their way to Brazil.
Col. William H. Norris was a leader in efforts to settle on the other side of the world.
He was a former state senator from Dallas County, Alabama, as well as a grand master of the Masonic Grand Lodge in Alabama and a veteran of the Mexican-American War.
But he decided that the US wasn’t where he wanted his family to be after the North won the war.
Recruiting Confederados overseas
Col. Norris and his son Robert arrived in Sao Paulo – now Brazil‘s largest city in December 1865.
They horrifically bought three slaves along with 500 acres of land near Santa Barbara d’Oeste.
By April the following year, their families at also arrived over to experience their new Confederate life overseas.
The father and son then started a letter-writing campaign to urge their friends as well as former neighbours to join them abroad.
Their success in doing so appears to be huge as after a few years, more than six Confederate settlements were established in the states of Para, Parana and Sao Paulo.
Fellow Confederate loyalist Maj. Lansford Hastings even published The Emigrant’s Guide to Brazil in 1867 – a travel book that sold Southerners the dream of unlimited wealth.
Meanwhile back in the US, the country was attempting to make reparations from the horrors of the Civil War.
But the unreformed Confederados continued to attempt to preserve what life Confederates had back at home.
They practised Protestant Christianity, didn’t eat any Brazilian cuisine and instead cooked Southern food, all while speaking English.
The last thing they wanted to do was to blend in with the local population and defeat the point of their massive relocation.
Success of the Southerners’ colonies sat on their success in purchasing and controlling slaves to successfully resurrect the plantation agriculture system.
But the Confederados didn’t succeed in their so-called task.
As they spoke very little Portuguese, partnered with little funds and no actual connection to Brazil except living there, their plan fell flat.
This marked the beginning of the end for the Confederados, with financial failure or death via disease among heads of colonies diminishing the number of followers.
But back in the US, in 1877, federal troops were withdrawn from Southern states – which in turn removed massive levels of protection for Black people.
Soon the infamous Jim Crow laws began all while Southern politicians regained their power.
This meant Confederados had no reason to live abroad anymore and could return to the US with the restoration of racist supremacy in the South.
It is unknown how many Southerners returned back to the US but in Brazil many settlements disbanded – but some stayed in hopes of protecting their heritage.
Confederados now
The settlement of Confederates in Brazil has left a long-lasting impression on the country.
Many descendants claim Brazil would have stagnated if the Southerners hadn’t come over and resettled.
While there isn’t enough evidence to prove this to be the case, it is known that the settlers helped to speed up the use of technologies and innovations like the metal-tipped plow and railroads.
Brazil was soon experiencing an influx of people from Germany, Japan and Italy who each brought their own contributions and leaving more of a lasting impression on Brazil.
Nowadays, Confederados are low in numbers and their descendants speak Portuguese and identify as Brazilian – but they still gather each year to celebrate their history.
FDA chiefs have not yet set a date for the first-ever “Festa dos Americans”.
