"Home-Builders": Free Labor Households and Settler Colonialism in Western Union Civil War Commemorations

Abstract: In the trans-Mississippi West, white Union veterans and their families commemorated the American Civil War in ways that supported the colonization of American Indians and privileged themselves. This article analyzes the gendered dimensions of this process. In Memorial Day addresses, monument dedication speeches, and GAR and WRC records, western Union veterans celebrated themselves for preserving and expanding free, single-family households west, which they asserted was a legacy of their Civil War military service. Contending Union veterans and their wives best exemplified civilization, they employed Civil War commemorative rituals to argue they were the most deserving of western lands and entitlements.