J. Adam Fenster/The Gazette Amanda Becker of Laytonsville gives a presentation on preserving historic burial sites during the first charted meeting of the revived United Daughters of the Confederacy's E.V. White Chapter No. 1360 Sunday in Poolesville.

"People think just about everything they shouldn't. We're none of those negative things they say," says Atwell of Monrovia, president of the United Daughters of the Confederacy's E.V. White Chapter No. 1360. "I'm proud of my Confederate ancestors who went off to fight for what they believed in."

Like the 17 other women who currently make up the Montgomery County chapter of the UDC, Atwell is a direct descendant of a Confederate veteran. Her great-great grandfather Solomon Carter fought in the 37th Virginia Cavalry. Her husband, Bill, is also a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Both of them dedicate much of their time to preserving the memory of Confederate ancestors and to educating the public about Civil War history from a Southern point of view. One of these positions is that the soldiers going to war were motivated not by the issue of slavery, but by concern over Southern states' rights and economic decisions from the North.

The chapter held its first meeting as an officially chartered group Sunday at Bassett's restaurant in Poolesville. Atwell said the plan is to build up membership and help prospective members trace their genealogy. She also said the group will participate in parades and ceremonies throughout the year, joining with similar organizations whose purpose is to preserve the memory of the Confederacy. Another project will be to help save burial sites of Confederate soldiers--some of which are scattered around this region in danger of being destroyed by development.

The issue of burial site preservation led Amanda Becker of Laytonsville and her twin sister Frances to join the UDC. The sisters grew up on a farm in Unity that has been in the family for nine generations. Two of their Confederate ancestors' gravestones still stand on the property. When she was 7, Amanda Becker climbed on one those gravestones and it toppled onto her, breaking her leg. Decades later, her efforts to restore that stone led her to the Coalition to Protect Maryland Burial Sites, an organization based in Ellicott City that helps keep burial sites as cultural and historical resources. After learning more about preservation and about their own heritage as the great-great-great granddaughters of Frank Griffith of the 1st Virginia Cavalry, the Becker twins decided to become members of the UDC.

"I want to learn more about the stories, about the women of that time, about how my ancestors fought," said Becker. But also, as a relatively younger member of the UDC, she said she'd like to see the group have a more "modern" presence--such as more charitable work and involvement with current events. "We need to show people we're not evil," she laughed.

The National Association of the United Daughters of the Confederacy came into being in 1894 to honor the memory of the Confederate soldiers and the role of women during the Civil War. The national organization continues that mission by collecting historical materials about the Confederacy, in particular the period from 1861to 1865 when the Confederacy had its own independent government and currency. The UDC also works extensively on preserving memorials and monuments to Confederate veterans.

Members of the UDC must go through a rigorous process of providing proof of ancestry. Some have multiple ancestors who fought for the Confederacy, while many others have both Union and Confederate forefathers. Perhaps surprisingly, there have been members of African-American descent, whose ancestors fought for the Confederacy either as slaves or as free men. All in all, the women who belong to the UDC simply share the common thread of being descended from a soldier in a Gray uniform.

In Montgomery County, the local UDC chapter existed from 1911 to about 1949. It wasn't until Atwell gathered forces with some other women that the E.V. White Chapter No. 1360 came back into being, with its official charter presentation ceremony in November at the Monocacy Chapel in Beallsville. That chapel was built by early UDC members in 1915 and continues today as the group's home base. The chapel features portraits of the Confederacy's famous generals, Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. In the adjoining Monocacy Cemetery, a restored stone tablet lists the names of 32 Confederate soldiers from Maryland.

Diane Wright-Green of Columbia and her husband Bryan are both descendants of Confederate soldiers. Green's great grandfather William Joseph Heacker was a surgeon from Germany who immigrated to Tennessee, then fought in the cavalry there.

She's proud of the history and also very protective.

"People hear the word Southern or Confederate and they automatically peg you as ignorant or bigoted or driving around in a pickup truck," she said. "Not everyone from the South is a member of the Ku Klux Klan. They make me so angry. They do so much damage. We want people to take the time to know where we come from and not be so negative."