Albanese named commander of Civil War group

GOSHEN — Jeffrey Albanese of Goshen was elected commander, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Department of New York, at the Department’s 127 annual encampment held in Newark in upstate New York. The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War is an American fraternal and patriotic organization, the legal successor to the Grand Army of the Republic. It is a Congressionally chartered corporation with headquarters in the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, Pa. The National Organization of the Sons is headed by an annually elected commander-in-chief who oversees the operation of 26 departments. As commander for the Department of New York, Albanese is responsible for directing and providing oversight of the department operations and assisting the 19 camps within the department to foster and promote the goals and objects of the Sons. In addition, he will play a role in planning New York’s observance of the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War. According Sons officials, the group’s purpose is “to perpetuate the memory of the Grand Army of the Republic; to preserve their records, monuments and memorials; to teach patriotism and duties of citizenship; to honor the flag; and to sustain the American principles of representative government, equal rights, and impartial justice for all. It is made up of descendents of Union soldiers who served during the Civil War.” The Sons is not a re-enactors group. Albanese is a past camp commander of Col. Ellis Camp 124 of the Sons. Recent projects of the Col. Ellis Camp have included successfully lobbying for the restoration of Goshen’s Civil War monument, co- sponsoring an Eagle Scout project which installed 11 Civil War veterans headstones at Slate Hill cemetery, placement of several historical markers, and renovation of the Lincoln Boulder in Tarrytown. The Col. Ellis Camp 124 also awards an annual scholarship to a high school senior from Orange, Ulster, Sullivan or Rockland counties.