The idea of the Order of the Confederate Rose came to Jane Latture of Birmingham, AL, after a Robert E. Lee birthday dinner in Jaunyary 1993, when the speaker, Charles Lunsford, told Mrs. Latture of an Order of Robert E. Lee that had been reactivated in Georgia. Knowing that other ladies in alabama felt the need to help combat the growing attacks on their Confederate heritag, Mrs. Latture proposed the idea of creating their own order to some ladies, including Ellen Daniel, Sharon Dasinger, and Harriet Outlaw. All responded positively. The first name to occur to Mrs. Latture was the Order of the Confederate Rose, based upon a movie "The Rose and the Jackal" about Rose O'Neal Greenhow, a Confederate Spy.
On May 1, 1993, eleven wives and daughters of Alabama Division SCV members met in Alabama City, Alabama during the SCV State Convention and organized the order. The ladies amended and approved the name Order of the Confederate Rose, and everyone agreed it was perfect.
Then using ideas from the Georgia order, they mapped out the purposes and the structure of the organizatio. One evening late in May, Ellen Daniel and Jane Latture met by chance at the home of Sharon Dasinger, where they wrote up a tenative constitution and by-laws for the organization.
In July 1993, the first application and a short history of the order appeared in the "Alabama Confederate" offering charter membership to those whose applications came in by August 1, 1993. As a result, 65 applications were recieved and a charter signing ceremony was scheduled at Cahaba, the first capital of Alabama, on 16 October 1993, to coincide with the fall muster of the MOS&B.
Great interest in the order was expressed by women from other states at the 1993 SCV National Convention in Lexington, KY, so the Alabama ladies put up a sign and handed out applications. Most importantly, the Alabama members then decided to petition the SCG General Executive Council for official recognition, which was granted on August 14, 1993; the Order was now a national organization.
Also during the convention, an insignia for the order was decided upon. It was a rose on top of a Confederate Battle flag, with the name of the order inscribed around the sides of the flag.
Several State Societys were created and grew in Chapters and memberships. The Mississippi Society Order of the Confederate Rose was started in June, 1994, at the State Convention in Jackson, Mississippi. At the time, there were two Chapters with Charters, the Minerva Cook Chapter in Vicksburg, and the Mary Ann Montgomery Forrest Chapter, Hattiesburg. Mary Perry was elected as the first Society President. Since then, the Society has grown and some Chapters have come and gone. Today the society has eight Chapters and its membership is over 70 members. Mary Perry served as Society President from 1994 - 2000 (three terms). In June of 2000, Annette McCluney was elected Society President (2000 - 2004, two terms), Carol Ray (2004-2006), Sarah Wooten (2006-2008), and Annette McCluney (2008-2010) currently serves. Today, this is where the order stands. The next steps in its history are up to its members. Their ideas, support, and talents will determine the directionof its future.
