Colonel Louis R. Francine Camp keeps memory of Civil War alive
Page 4 • Wednesday, April 25, 2018 • The Hammonton Gazette
CIVIL WAR, from Page 1
viable republic.
The camp consists of 62
“brothers,” bonded by the sacred
ties of fraternity, charity and
loyalty, and is one of nine camps
that comprise the New Jersey
Department of the SUVCW. The
department and its camps were
first organized in 1882, one year
after the SUVCW, a nationally
recognized
patriotic
and
educational organization, was
founded. The SUVCW remains
the only male organization
recognizing and representing the
Grand Army of the Republic
(GAR).
Like most SUVCW camps,
Colonel Louis R. Francine Camp
No. 7 predominantly features
members who are direct
descendants of Civil War veterans.
However, the organization also
welcomes any men who have a
general interest in Civil War
history. The camp also has an
auxiliary, Elizabeth Thorn Camp
No. 14, that is open to any female
descendants (no younger than 12
years of age) of a deceased or
honorably discharged Civil War
veteran.
Together, the members of
Colonel Louis R. Francine Camp
No. 7 are committed to executing
their mission statement of
“preserving,
honoring
and
commemorating” those who
served during the Civil War
through publicly educating the
residents
of
the
greater
Hammonton area on the lives and
sacrifices of these soldiers, as well
as providing ceremonial and
commemorative service while
providing loyalty and charity to its
members and the community.
Colonel Louis R. Francine
Camp No. 7 was first organized in
1989 and was chartered two years
later. Camp secretary David Hann,
of Mullica Twp., who is a
founding member and past
commander of the camp—and a
self-proclaimed “Civil War
buff”—said
the
camp’s
foundation was spurred by the
lack of observance for the rich
Civil War history of the region,
specifically in Hammonton, which
was the site of one of the first
GAR (the predecessor to the
SUVCW) camps in 1867.
“I was a member of another
camp and I decided to get one a
little closer to home. Hammonton
has a rich Civil War history—a lot
of people don’t realize that … I
know that we look at other things
in Hammonton, but we don’t
realize this, and that’s why we
thought this [town] would be great
for a camp. And once we got the
camp chartered, we just took off
from there,” Hann said.
Since its inception, Colonel
Louis R. Francine Camp No. 7 has
grown to become one of the
largest SUVCW camps in New
Jersey,
and
encompasses
communities from Atlantic
County,
Camden
County,
Gloucester County and beyond.
Dr. Carl Hausman, of Wenonah,
recently joined the camp after
discovering his family’s extensive
military history, which dates back
to the Civil War era and includes
his third great-grandfather, Daniel
Dean Lowell, who served in the
179th New York Infantry with the
rank of Private in 1864.
Hausman’s research into his
ancestry impelled his passion for
Civil War history and, eventually,
a recommendation from a friend
led him to discover and join the
group of like-minded individuals
at Colonel Louis R. Francine
Camp No. 7.
“It has been great because I
finally found some people who
share my obsession. Everybody
See FRANCINE, Page 12
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