The Grand Army of the Republic, the largest of all Union Army veterans' organizations, was the most powerful single-issue political lobby of the late nineteenth century, securing massive pensions for veterans and helping to elect five postwar presidents from its own membership. To its members, it was also a secret fraternal order, a source of local charity, a provider of entertainment in small municipalities, and a patriotic organization.[1]
Linking men through their experience of the war, the GAR became among the first organized advocacy groups in American politics, supporting voting rights for black veterans, promoting patriotic education, helping to make Memorial Day a national holiday, lobbying Congress to establish regular veterans' pensions, and supporting Republican political candidates. Its peak membership, at 410,000, was in 1890, a high point of various Civil War commemorative and monument dedication ceremonies.
History
GAR Uniform Hat Badge from Post No. 146, "RG Shaw Post", named after Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and established by surviving members of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment in 1871 (R. Andre Stevens Civil War Collection)
After the end of American Civil War, various state and local organizations were formed for veterans to network and maintain connections with each other. Many of the veterans used their shared experiences as a basis for fellowship. Groups of men began joining, first for camaraderie and later for political power. Emerging as most influential among the various organizations during the first post-war years was the Grand Army of the Republic, founded on April 6, 1866, on the principles of "Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty," in Decatur, Illinois, by Dr. Benjamin F. Stephenson.[2] The GAR almost disappeared in the early 1870s, and many state-centered divisions, named "departments", and local posts ceased to exist.[3]
In his General Order No. 11, dated May 5, 1868, first GAR Commander-in-Chief, General John A. Logan declared May 30 to be Memorial Day (also referred to for many years as "Decoration Day"), calling upon the GAR membership to make the May 30 observance an annual occurrence. Although not the first time war graves had been decorated, Logan's order effectively established "Memorial Day" as the day upon which Americans now pay tribute to all their war casualties, missing-in-action, and deceased veterans. As decades passed, similarly inspired commemorations also spread across the South as "Confederate Memorial Day" or "Confederate Decoration Day", usually in April, led by organizations of Southern soldiers in the parallel United Confederate Veterans.[4]
Reverse of the GAR BadgeGAR marker, beside a veteran's grave in Portland Street Cemetery, South Berwick, MaineDepartment of Massachusetts GAR Post 144, Dedham Massachusetts 1886A replica of the USS Kearsarge displayed at the 1893 GAR National Convention in Indianapolis, IndianaGrand Army of the Republic National Encampment bulletin in 1900Department of Ohio marching in GAR Parade, Toledo, Ohio, 1908GAR parade during the 1914 Encampment in Detroit, MichiganA.C. Shafer and Commander C.H. Haskins, standing, observed the transfer of the Departmental Headquarters of the Grand Army of the Republic from San Francisco to Los Angeles in June 1917.
In the 1880s, the Union veterans' organization revived under new leadership that provided a platform for renewed growth, by advocating Federal pensions for veterans. As the organization revived, black veterans joined in significant numbers and organized local posts. In at least one case, in Ohio, an African American was elected as the commander of a predominately white post. This was Robert A. Pinn of Hart Post 124 in Massillon, Ohio..[5] While the national organization may have failed to press the case for pensions for black soldiers, many of them did receive federal pensions, and the papers in these pension files are now a rich source for African American genealogical research.[6] Some sources emphasize that these pensions for black soldiers were less frequent than for their white counterparts.[7] Some African American members of the GAR organized the National Memorial Association to advocate for a memorial to black soldiers in 1919.[8]
The GAR was organized into "Departments" at the state level and "Posts" at the community level, and military-style uniforms were worn by its members. There were posts in every state in the U.S., and several posts overseas.[7] The pattern of establishing departments and local posts was later used by other American military veterans' organizations, such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (organized originally for veterans of the Spanish–American War and the Philippine Insurrection) and the later American Legion (for the First World War and later expanded to include subsequent World War II, Korean, Vietnam and Middle Eastern wars).
The GAR's political power grew during the latter part of the 19th century, and it helped elect several United States presidents, beginning with the 18th, Ulysses S. Grant, and ending with the 25th, William McKinley. Six Civil War veterans (Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur; Benjamin Harrison, and McKinley) were elected President of the United States; all were Republicans. (The sole post-war Democratic president was Grover Cleveland--he bought a substitute and did not serve in the Civil War, but he did veto many pension laws passed by Congress.) Of the six mentioned US Presidents, at least five were members of the GAR but there is no record of membership for Chester Arthur, who was a Union general:
Ulysses S. Grant (Lt General of the Union Armies) Became a member of the Philadelphia PA George G. Meade Post GAR Post # 1 May 16, 1877[9][10]
Rutherford B. Hayes (Brevet Major General) Became a Member of the Fremont Ohio Manville Moore GAR Post[11]
James A. Garfield (Major General) Possibly a member of the GAR – a GAR Post publication refers to the death of Comrade James Garfield, President of the United States[12]
Benjamin Harrison (Brevet Brigadier General) Became a member of the Indianapolis Indiana General George H. Thomas GAR Post[13]
William McKinley. (Brevet Major of the 23d Ohio) Became a member of the Canton Ohio GAR Post # 25 July 7, 1880 [It was later renamed McKinley GAR Post # 25][14]
With membership strictly limited to soldiers, sailors or Marines who served in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Revenue Cutter Service of the United States of America during the War of the Rebellion 1861–1865, the GAR encouraged the formation of Allied Orders to aid them in various works. Numerous male organizations jousted for the backing of the GAR, and the political battles became quite severe until the GAR finally endorsed the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War as its heir.
The GAR, according to Stuart McConnell, promoted, "a nationalism that honored white, native-stock, middle-class males and ...affirmed a prewar ideal of a virtuous, millennial Republic, based on the independent producer, entrepreneurial capitalism, and the citizen-soldier volunteer."[15]
Female members
The GAR had at least three women who were members.
In 1897 the GAR admitted Sarah Emma Edmonds, who served in the 2nd Michigan Infantry as a disguised man named Franklin Thompson from May 1861 until April 1863. In 1882, she collected affidavits from former comrades in an effort to petition for a veteran's pension which she received in July 1884. Edmonds was only a member for a brief period as she died September 5, 1898; however she was given a funeral with military honors when she was reburied in Houston in 1901.[17]
Mary Bostwick Shellman was made an associate member of the Wilson Post No. 1 of the Department of Maryland Grand Army c. 1899[18] for her lifelong work caring for soldiers and veterans, first as a teenage volunteer nurse and later for creating and continuing to lead one of the nation's oldest Decoration Day Parades in Westminster, Maryland. She made remembering and caring for veterans her life's work and saved at least five Union soldiers from having "pauper burials."[19]
Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was a surgeon in the Union Army during the Civil War and a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Treated soldiers from both sides of the conflict, including civilians, and was captured by Confederate troops in 1864. Prior to her death in 1898, she was admitted to the Grand Army of the Republic.
It is possible that other women were members of the GAR, as well.
Kady Brownwell
Sarah Emma Edmonds
Later years
Grand Army of the Republic Encampment, Blue Earth County, Minnesota
The GAR reached its largest enrollment in 1890, with 410,000 members.[20] It held an annual "National Encampment" every year from 1866 to 1949. Interesting anecdotes from the war were told around the many campfires at these reunions and compiled in a book of campfire "chats", including descriptions of the festivities at the 1884–1886 encampments in Minneapolis, Portland, Maine and San Francisco.[21] At the final encampment in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1949, the few surviving attendees voted to retain the existing officers in place until the organization's dissolution. Theodore Penland of Oregon, the GAR's Commander at the time, was therefore its last.[3] At the time of the last national encampment, 16 members were still living and six were able to attend, including James Hard, the last combat veteran, who had fought at First Bull Run, Antietam, and Chancellorsville.[22] In 1956, after the death of the last member, Albert Woolson, the GAR was formally dissolved.[3]
Every state (even those of the former Confederacy) fell within a GAR "Department," and within these Departments were the "Posts" (forerunners of modern American Legion Halls or VFW Halls). The posts were made up of local veterans, many of whom participated in local civic events. As the posts were formed, they were assigned to the home Department of the National Commander-in-chief of the year that they were chartered. There was no GAR post in London, but there was a Civil War Veterans Association Group that had many GAR members belonging to it.
As Civil War veterans died or were no longer able to participate in GAR activities, posts consolidated or were disbanded.[26] Posts were assigned a sequential number based on their admission into the state's GAR organization, and most posts held informal names which honored comrades, battles, or commanders; it was not uncommon to have more than one post in a state honoring the same individual (such as Abraham Lincoln) and posts often changed their informal designation by vote of the local membership. See:
John Steinbeck's East of Eden features several references to the Grand Army of the Republic. Despite having very little actual battle experience during his brief military career, cut short by the loss of his leg, Adam Trask's father Cyrus joins the GAR and assumes the stature of "a great man" through his involvement with the organization. At the height of the GAR's influence in Washington, he brags to his son:
I wonder if you know how much influence I really have. I can throw the Grand Army at any candidate like a sock. Even the President likes to know what I think about public matters. I can get senators defeated and I can pick appointments like apples. I can make men and I can destroy men. Do you know that?
—Cyrus Trask (character), East of Eden
Later in the book, references are made to the graves of GAR members in California in order to emphasize the passage of time.[27]
The GAR is referenced in John McCrae's poem He Is There! which was set to music in 1917 by Charles Ives as part of his cycle Three Songs of the War.[34]
In Ward Moore's 1953 alternate history novel Bring the Jubilee, the Confederates won the Civil War and became a major world power while the rump United States was reduced to an impoverished dependence. The Grand Army of the Republic is the name of a nationalistic organization working to restore the United States to its former glory through acts of sabotage and terrorism.[35]
"Tea Tray Cadets" 1880 membership badge, an early women's auxiliary to the GAR
The Woman's Relief Corps was founded in 1879 as a "secret" organization and recognized in 1883 as the "official women's auxiliary" to the GAR.
The Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic was also a significant organization. It was founded by Lelia P. Roby.[37] As a congressionally chartered non-profit organization, it is the oldest women's hereditary organization in the United States. The original objectives of the organization included promotion of patriotism and loyalty to the Union, and participation in community service, especially for the aid of our Veterans and their dependents."[38]
As original Union veterans of the GAR, organized in 1866, grew old, many women's groups formed to aid them and their widows and orphans. The Loyal Ladies League was established in 1881 as an auxiliary to the GAR; in 1886 the organization went more national and changed its name to "The Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic."[39] It was incorporated by Public Law 86-47 [S.949] of the 86th Congress on June 17, 1959 [40]
In 1899, the president was Dr. Julia P. Shade of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[41]
Its president in 1922 was Mrs. Ethel M. Irish, of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.[42]
Memorial Day is one of the federal holidays in the United States for honoring and mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. Memorial Day is also considered the unofficial beginning of summer in the United States.
Albert Henry Woolson was the last known surviving member of the Union Army who served in the American Civil War; he was also the last surviving Civil War veteran on either side whose status is undisputed. At least three men who outlived Woolson claimed to be Confederate veterans, but one has been debunked and the other two are unverified. The last surviving Union soldier to see combat was James Hard (1843–1953).
Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) is an American congressionally chartered fraternal organization that carries out activities to preserve the history and legacy of the United States Armed Forces veterans who fought during the Civil War. It is the legal successor to the Grand Army of the Republic, the large and influential grouping of Union Army veterans that existed in the decades following the Civil War. Most SUVCW activities occur at the "Camp" or local community level. Camps are grouped into state or regional structures called "Departments". The National organization, with headquarters at the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, meets annually in a National Encampment that is attended by SUVCW members, known as "Brothers", from all Camps and Departments.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is an American neo-Confederate nonprofit organization of male descendants of Confederate soldiers that commemorates these ancestors, funds and dedicates monuments to them, and promotes the pseudohistorical Lost Cause ideology and corresponding white supremacy.
The Grand Army of the Republic Hall, also known as John M. Hagadorn Post No. 505, Grand Army of the Republic and the Schuyler F. Smith Camp No. 193, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, and Halsey Valley Grand Army of the Republic Meeting Hall, is an historic building located on Hamilton Valley Road in Halsey Valley near Spencer, New York, in the United States. The hall was built in 1894 and on January 23, 2003, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
The Grand Army of the Republic Monument, in the Linden Grove Cemetery of Covington, Kentucky, was built in 1929 by O. P. Sine of Garfield Post No. 2 of the Grand Army of the Republic, a group comprising the remaining veterans of the Union army.
The Dependent and Disability Pension Act was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison on June 27, 1890. The act provided pensions for all veterans who had served at least ninety days in the Union military or naval forces, were honorably discharged from service and were unable to perform manual labor, regardless of their financial situation or when the disability occurred. The bill was a source of contentious debate and only passed after Grover Cleveland had vetoed a previous version in 1887.
James R. Tanner was an American soldier and civil servant. He is best known for having lost both his legs below the knee at the Second Battle of Bull Run. Serving during the rest of the war as a government stenographer, he was present at the death of Abraham Lincoln and took notes that are the most comprehensive record of the events of the President's assassination. He later served as the United States Commissioner of Pensions, and helped reorganize and incorporate the American Red Cross.
The Woman's Relief Corps (WRC) is a charitable organization in the United States, originally founded as the official women's auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) in 1883. The organization was designed to assist the GAR and provide post-war relief to Union veterans. The GAR had been created as a "fraternal" organization and refused to allow women to join up until the creation of this auxiliary. It is largely dedicated to historical preservation of research and official documentation related to the WRC and GAR.
The Stephenson Grand Army of the Republic Memorial, also known as Dr. Benjamin F. Stephenson, is a public artwork in Washington, D.C. honoring Dr. Benjamin F. Stephenson, founder of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization for Union veterans. The memorial is sited at Indiana Plaza, located at the intersection of 7th Street, Indiana Avenue, and Pennsylvania Avenue NW in the Penn Quarter neighborhood. The bronze figures were sculpted by J. Massey Rhind, a prominent 20th-century artist. Attendees at the 1909 dedication ceremony included President William Howard Taft, Senator William Warner, and hundreds of Union veterans.
A Ladies' Memorial Association (LMA) is a type of organization for women that sprang up all over the American South in the years after the American Civil War. Typically, these were organizations by and for women, whose goal was to raise monuments in Confederate soldiers honor. Their immediate goal, of providing decent burial for soldiers, was joined with the desire to commemorate the sacrifices of Southerners and to propagate the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. Between 1865 and 1900, these associations were a formidable force in Southern culture, establishing cemeteries and raising large monuments often in very conspicuous places, and helped unite white Southerners in an ideology at once therapeutic and political.
George Sargent Merrill was an American soldier who served in the Union Army and as the 10th Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, 1881-1882.
Paul Vandervoort was an American soldier of Belgian descent who served in the Union Army and as the 11th Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, 1882-1883.
Wilmon Whilldin Blackmar was a United States military officer who fought with the Union Army as a member of the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry and the 1st West Virginia Cavalry during the American Civil War. He received his country's highest award for bravery during combat, the U.S. Medal of Honor, for his "extraordinary heroism" for taking the initiative, during a critical stage of the Battle of Five Forks on April 1, 1865, to lead a successful advance upon the enemy while fighting with the 1st West Virginia Cavalry. His award was conferred on October 23, 1897.
Brevet Major Augustus Plummer Davis was a Union Army officer during the American Civil War. He is best known as the founder of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.
The National Association of Army Nurses of the Civil War or National Army Nurses was an organization of former nurses who served in the American Civil War. It was primarily a social organization, but it also advocated for, and helped to secure, recognition and benefits for nurses who had served in the war.
Emily E. Lansbury Wilson Woodley was an army nurse during the American Civil War, president of the National Association of Army Nurses of the Civil War from 1895 to 1898.
References
↑ Stuart McConnell, Glorious Contentment: The Grand Army of the Republic, 1865–1900. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1997.
↑ George McJimsey, "Glorious Contentment: the Grand Army of the Republic, 1865–1900." Annals of Iowa 52.4 (1993) pp. 474–476, citing Stuart McConnell, Glorious contentment: The Grand Army of the Republic, 1865–1900 (U of North Carolina Press, 1997) p. 222.
Ainsworth, Scott. "Electoral Strength and the Emergence of Group Influence in the Late 1800s The Grand Army of the Republic." American Politics Research 23.3 (1995): 319–338.
Cimbala, Paul A. Veterans North and South: The Transition from Soldier to Civilian after the American Civil War (Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2015). xviii, 189 pp.
Dearing, Mary R. Veterans in Politics: The Story of the GAR (1974) online, a scholarly history
Gannon, Barbara A. The Won Cause: Black and White Comradeship in the Grand Army of the Republic (2011)
Jordan, Brian Matthew. Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War. New York: Liveright, 2015.
McConnell, Stuart. Glorious Contentment: The Grand Army of the Republic, 1865–1900. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1997, a major scholarly history.
Marten, James Alan. Sing Not War: The Lives of Union & Confederate Veterans in Gilded Age America (Univ of North Carolina Press, 2011).
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