The United Confederate Veterans, also known as the UCV, was a veteran's organization for former Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War. Prior to 1889, Confederate veterans had no national organization; separate fraternal and memorial groups existed on a local and regional level. Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1889, several of these groups united and formed a regional organization to serve as a benevolent, historical, social, and literary association. At its height, membership in the organization was approximately 160,000 former Confederate soldiers organized into 1,885 local camps.