We fight to defend freedom! Those back home call us traitors for serving the Confederacy, but one man's traitor is another man's freedom fighter! We are not afraid to turn our backs on the old Union, which has become corrupt and oppressive, in order to defend the right. God is on the side of the Confederacy!
—Brigadier MacCorwen
The 1st (Union) Volunteer Brigade was the first, and largest, unit comprised of Union citizens in service to the Confederate States of Earth.
The 1st UVB, as it was sometimes known in short-hand, was founded by a man named Thomas MacCorwen, a former officer in the Union Army, who defected to the Confederacy along with most of his unit, pledging their service to the Confederate Army and calling for more Union citizens to serve the Confederacy, which led to the creation of the Union Volunteer Army, made up of the 1st and 2nd (Union) Volunteer Brigades.
The 1st UVB was originally formed as part of the short-lived Army of the Border, which was created to defend the Confederate border regions, this army was active for several months in early 21 BBY before being reformed into the Army of Valand and the Army of Vertania.
The 1st fought in the First Battle of Earth against the invading Union and Galactic Republic forces, they were called traitors by the Union for serving the Confederacy, which Brigadier MacCorwen dismissed by stating that what one party considered a traitor was considered a freedom fighter by another.
The Brigade used a personalised version of a flag known as the "Union Bars", this particular variant of the Confederate national flag featured the 15 stars of the post-Secessionist crises Union, which represented the 15 remaining member states of the Union following two secessionist crises, which Union volunteers considered legal, and thus respected the secession of the 95 Confederate states.
The "Union Bars" was a popular flag with pro-Confederate Union citizens, the 1st (Union) Volunteer Brigade's version of the flag included inscriptions on the central Bar and surrounding the stars on the canton, the in inscription on the canton said "1st (Union) Volunteers", whilst the one on the central Bar said "Freedom and Liberty under God", the motto of the unit.