Grand Army of the Republic

Grand Army of the Republic
Coat of arms of the Grand Army of Republic
active	April 6, 1866 to August 2, 1956
Country	United States
Armed forces	United States Armed Forces
Type	brotherhood
Strength	490,000
Nickname	AT ALL
motto	Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty

The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a brotherhood of veterans from the Union Army , Union Navy , United States Marine Corps, and United States Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War.

GAR was founded on April 6, 1866 in Decatur by Benjamin F. Stephenson . After the last living member, Albert Woolson , died in 1956 at the age of 106, the unit was disbanded. Based on the experience of the soldiers involved, the Grand Army became the first political interest group to demand voting rights for African-American war veterans and to induce the US Congress to establish veterans' pensions. They also supported candidates from the Republican Party. The GAR helped in efforts to rename Memorial Day , which was first proclaimed as Decoration Day in 1866, to become Memorial Day and to make it an official holiday, which happened in 1882.

The coat of arms that each member wore is modeled on the Congressional Medal of Honor . The highest number of members reached the brotherhood in 1890 with over 490,000 members.

history

In the course of many founding of veteran communities after the Civil War, the Grand Army of the Republic was founded on April 6, 1866 under Dr. Benjamin F. Stephenson. As the de facto arm of the Republican Party, the Brotherhood grew up in the political power struggles of the reconstruction period. However, as Republican interest in southern reform waned, the GAR also faltered in the early 1870s and many local branches were abandoned.

In the 1880s a revival of the brotherhood began under new leadership, which led to strong growth. The pension for civil war veterans was also enforced during this period. In the course of the reconstruction, many African American veterans also joined the community, who had previously been given the right to vote by the GAR. However, it failed to enforce these pensions for the colored war veterans.

As membership grew, so did its political influence. From Ulysses S. Grant to William McKinley, the Brotherhood helped various US presidents into office. Five Civil War veterans and members of the Grant Army of Republic were elected President during this period. They were all Republicans. At that time it was impossible to become a Republican candidate for president or the US Congress without the support of the GAR.

From 1866 to 1949 the members held an annual meeting with a celebration and a parade. At the last meeting in 1949, the remaining members voted to keep the current board members until the end. After the death of the last civil war veteran in 1956, the organization was disbanded.

Monuments

Postage stamp from 1948

In addition to numerous monuments throughout the United States, the best known are two commemorative stamps from 1948 and 1951. The decisive factor was the issuing of various postage stamps of the northern and southern states since the beginning of the war.

In addition, the name of the Grand Army of the Republic Highway after the association should be mentioned.

Commander in chief

image	Surname	Beginning	The End	branch	Remarks
	Benjamin F. Stephenson	1866	1866	Illinois	Founder and Provisional Commander in Chief, April 6 to November 21, 1866.
	Stephen Augustus Hurlbut	1866	1868	Illinois
	John Alexander Logan	1868	1871	Illinois	Initiated the "General Order No. 11 "on May 5, 1868 which for Memorial Day led
	Ambrose Everett Burnside	1871	1873	Rhode Island
	Charles Devens	1873	1875	Massachusetts
	John Frederick Hartranft	1875	1877	Pennsylvania
	John Cleveland Robinson	1877	1879	new York
	William Earnshaw	1879	1880	Ohio
	Louis Wagner	1880	1881	Pennsylvania
	George Sargent Merrill	1881	1882	Massachusetts
	Paul Vandervoort	1882	1883	Nebraska	recognized the National Women's Relief Corps as official support
	Robert Burns Beath	1883	1884	Pennsylvania
	John S. Kountz	1884	1885	Ohio
	Samuel Swinfin Burdett	1885	1886	Washington, DC
	Lucius Fairchild	1886	1887	Wisconsin
	John Patterson Rea	1887	1888	Minnesota
	William Warner	1888	1889	Missouri
	Russell Alexander Alger	1889	1890	Michigan
	Wheelock Graves Veazey	1890	1891	Vermont
	John Palmer	1891	1892	new York
	Augustus Gordon Weissert	1892	1893	Wisconsin
	John GB Adams	1893	1894	Massachusetts
	Thomas G. Lawler	1894	1895	Illinois
	Ivan N. Walker	1895	1896	Indiana
	Thaddeus Stevens Clarkson	1896	1897	Nebraska
	John Peter Shindel Gobin	1897	1898	Pennsylvania
	James Andrew Sexton	1898	1899	Illinois	Died on February 5, 1899 while in office
	William Christie Johnson	1899	1899	Ohio
	Albert Duane Shaw	1899	1900	Pennsylvania
	Leo Rassieur	1900	1901	Missouri
	Eliakim "Ell" Torrance	1901	1902	Minnesota
	John Charles Black	1903	1904	Illinois
	Wilmon Whilldin Blackmar	1904	1905	Massachusetts	Died on July 19, 1905 while in office
	John Rigdon King	1905	1905	Maryland
	James R. Tanner	1905	1906	new York
	Robert Burns Brown	1906	1907	Ohio
	Charles Germman Burton	1907	1908	Missouri
	Henry Martin Nevius	1908	1909	New Jersey
	Samuel Rinnah Van Sant	1909	1910	Minnesota
	John Edward Gilman	1910	1911	Massachusetts
	Harvey Marion Trimble	1911	1912	Illinois
	Alfred Bishop Beers	1912	1913	Connecticut
	Washington Gardner	1913	1914	Michigan
	David James Palmer	1914	1915	Iowa
	Elias Riggs Monfort	1915	1916	Ohio
	William James Patterson	1916	1917	Pennsylvania
	Orlando Allen Somers	1917	1918	Indiana
	Clarendon E. Adams	1918	1919	Nebraska
	James David Bell	1919	1920	new York	Died on November 1, 1919 while in office
	Daniel Munson Hall	1920	1920	Ohio
	William Alexander Ketcham	1920	1921	Indiana
	Lewis Stephen Pilcher	1921	1922	new York
	James William Willett	1922	1923	Iowa
	Gaylord Miller Saltzgaber	1923	1924	Ohio
	Louis Frederick Arensberg	1924	1925	Iowa
	John Baptist Inman	1925	1926	Illinois
	Francis Augustin "Frank" Walsh	1926	1927	Wisconsin
	Elbridge Lafayette Hawk	1927	1928	California
	John Reese	1928	1929	Nebraska
	Edwin J. Foster	1929	1930	Massachusetts
	James E. Jewel	1930	1931	Colorado
	Samuel P. Town	1931	1932	Pennsylvania
	William Parkinson Wright	1932	1933	Illinois	died on June 15, 1933 during his tenure
	Russell C. Martin	1933	1934	California
	Alfred Edwin Stacey	1934	1935	new York
	Oley Nelson	1935	1936	Iowa
	Carl Henry William rest	1936	1937	Pennsylvania
	Overton H. Mennet	1937	1938	California
	Robert McKee Rownd	1938	1939	new York
	John E. Andrew	1940	1940	Illinois	Died on June 30, 1940 while in office
	Alexander T. Anderson	1940	1940	Pennsylvania
	William Washington Nixon	1940	1941	Kansas
	George Alvin Gay	1941	1942	New Hampshire
	John Simon Dumser	1942	1943	California
	George H. Jones	1943	1944	Maine
	Isaac W. Sharp	1944	1945	Indiana
	Hiram R. Gale	1945	1946	Washington
	John Henry Grate	1946	1947	Ohio
	Robert McKee Rownd	1947	1948	new York
	Theodore A. Penland	1948	1949	Oregon

literature

• Mary R. Dearing: Veterans in Politics. The Story of the GAR . Greenwood Press, Westport 1974, ISBN 0-8371-7605-0 (unaltered reprint of Westport 1952 edition)

Web links

Commons : Grand Army of the Republic  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• The Grand Army of the Republic
• Grand Army of the Republic Records Project

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sons of the Union Veterans of the American Civil War : [1] , accessed on February 4, 2017.
2. ↑ STORY AND LIFESTYLE: MEMORIAL DAY : [2]  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed February 4, 2017.  
3. ^ New York Times : [3] , accessed February 4, 2017.
4. ↑ Sons of the Union Veterans of the American Civil War : [4] , accessed on February 5, 2017.
5. ^ Grand Army of the Republic Museum : [5] , accessed February 5, 2017.
6. ↑ Sons of the Union Veterans of the American Civil War : [6] , accessed February 5, 2017.
7. ↑ Stamp catalog: US postage stamps 1951 ( Memento of the original from March 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ^ Highway History: US 6 - The Grand Army of the Republic Highway