SCV Supports Leaders And Ousts Dissidents
By Deborah Fitts
June 2005

CONCORD, N.C. - With the overwhelming support of the membership at a special convention April 23, the leadership of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) succeeded in removing fully half its board of directors and consolidating its grasp on the direction of the century-old organization.

Commander-in-chief Denne Sweeney said the ouster of 13 directors from the 25-member board, known as the General Executive Council (GEC), brought an end to a split that had been festering for more than a decade.

"Now I'm going to get done the things I said I was going to get done," said Sweeney. "I still hear a little rancor out there here and there, but most people are starting to settle down."

The special convention drew "the largest turnout of camps ever," according to Ron Casteel, a GEC member and Sweeney's chief of staff, drawing delegates from 370 of the SCV's 800 camps nationwide. The main order of business was passage of amendments to the organization's constitution aimed at weeding out dissident directors.

Casteel said feelings among members ran high following an attempted "coup" by half of the GEC members against Sweeney and his supporters in February, after months of bitter infighting. Meeting by conference call, the dissidents removed Sweeney and the officers he had appointed. To get legal backing, they filed suit in court the following day and won a temporary restraining order. But in March the judge reinstated Sweeney and his followers, saying the dissidents had acted improperly. (See April 2005 front-page story.)

Thrusting the SCV's business into court outraged many of the organization's 33,000 to 35,000 members, Casteel said, and their delegates came ready to act.

Fully 96 percent of the delegates voting at the special convention approved a constitutional amendment calling for the retention on the GEC of only the last three commanders-in-chief. Until then, past commanders had lifetime appointments. The measure resulted in the removal of nine former commanders who generally opposed Sweeney.

And a 93 percent vote approved another amendment that removed from the GEC the commander general of the Military Order of the Stars and Bars. A longtime affiliate, the Military Order shares the SCV's headquarters in Columbia, Tenn. But Sweeney said the two organizations have long desired to go their separate ways.

Following the convention, the remainder of the GEC met and voted to remove four membership-elected officers on the board who Sweeney said were "coup leaders." Among them was Anthony Hodges, who as the GEC's second-in-command had assumed the top post during the coup. The board elected Chris Sullivan to replace Hodges as lieutenant commander-in-chief.

Sweeney said the delegates "came ready to do business. You heard that Southern phrase, 'Get it done,' ringing all over the place."

Casteel said the convention-goers had revealed "a general dissatisfaction with the fact that past commanders-in-chief who sat on the board for life contributed nothing but 'no' votes and 'a-ginner' votes. But because of their numbers, they could dictate where we went on crucial issues." They could often out-vote the Sweeney side by a one-vote margin, Casteel explained.

"The convention was essentially peaceful and unified," according to Casteel, but not entirely. Mark "Beau" Cantrell, who as commander of the Army of Trans-Mississippi was one of the elected officers removed at the GEC meeting, ended up temporarily in police handcuffs after getting into a squabble with other SCV members. Intervention by Sweeney supporters resulted in Cantrell being freed, Casteel said.

In the wake of the convention it was hard to predict whether the SCV was now entering upon calmer waters. Jeff Massey, another leader of the coup, predicted "purges of dissidents," including himself. Other members will leave on their own, he said.

"I fully expect the membership numbers will drop like rocks," Massey said. "There's a tremendous amount of mean-spirited, hateful talk on the part of the 'progressives.' Most people have had enough."

Massey called Sweeney and his supporters "keyboard commandoes," saying they did little to preserve Confederate heritage. "They're much more intrigued by Byzantine politics."

Massey asserted that the special convention witnessed "a host of irregularities," including "a lot of shenanigans at the credentialing areas." He also cited the "hypocrisy" of Sweeney supporters who say that they listen to the voice of the membership. "But then they turn around and remove four officers who were all elected by the membership, and that's OK."

But for his part, Sweeney expressed relief that the conflict was over. "There were wars over things just because you proposed something," he said. "There was a lot of infighting about things that never should be bones of contention."

Despite the success of the convention, Sweeney said, "I'm going to have to rethink my programs a little bit." Struggles with the dissidents ate up much of the first year of his two-year term, and the legal separation from the Military Order of the Stars and Bars, including buying out their share of the headquarters, will occupy more time.

Sweeney acknowledged that the flap has cost the organization, but said the future is bright.

"We've probably lost some members, but an awful lot are going to come back. Some camps have reported that they're enthusiastic, and glad it's over. I predict a big surge in membership in the next two or three years."

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