Joseph Orville "J.O." Shelby was a senior officer of the Confederate States Army who commanded cavalry in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War. After the Confederacy surrendered, Shelby tried to swear fealty to Emperor Maximilian I during the French invasion of Mexico. With the Emperor's permission, Shelby formed a colony of Confederate exiles in Mexico until the defeat of the French, then abandoned the operation.

The New Virginia Colony was a colonization plan to resettle ex-Confederates in central Mexico after the American Civil War. The largest settlement was Carlota, named for Emperor Maximilian's wife Charlotte of Belgium and located near Córdoba, Veracruz; by early 1866, it was described as "thriving" and had a population of almost 500. Other settlements were planned near Tampico, Monterrey, Cuernavaca, and Chihuahua.