It was on March 15, 1896, on a cold day in New York City, that 63 Jewish veterans of the Civil War gathered to address the then-popular canard that Jews were not patriotic enough to serve their country. These proud veterans and other Jews who had served honorably in the war were living proof that the demeaning accusation was an anti-Semitic lie. That day, those veterans founded the Hebrew Union Veterans Association. The Spanish-American War two years later and the wars of the 20th century created new Jewish military veterans, who formed their own groups. Eventually, the various groups merged and renamed their organization.