Grand Army of the Republic

Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), organization established by Civil War veterans of the Union army and navy. Principal figures in the founding of the GAR were John A. Logan and Richard J. Oglesby. The first post was formed (Apr. 6, 1866) at Decatur, Ill., and at the first national encampment, held at Indianapolis, Ind., on Nov. 20, 1866, 10 states and the District of Columbia were represented. Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut, the first commander in chief, was succeeded by Logan, who was followed in office by Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside. They were the most prominent military men to head the GAR. By 1890, when the GAR reached its peak, more than 400,000 members were reported. The members sought to strengthen the bonds of comradeship, to preserve the memory of their fallen comrades (they secured the general adoption of Memorial Day to achieve this purpose), to give aid to soldiers' widows and orphans and to handicapped veterans, and, most of all, to fight for pension increases and other benefits. Although the organization was nonpolitical, GAR members were overwhelmingly Republican and formed a reliable bloc of that party's strength in the years up to 1900. Soldier preference in federal appointments became the rule, and pension legislation was usually enacted by the Republicans with their support in mind. The National Tribune, founded (1877) by George E. Lemon, a powerful pensions attorney of Washington, D.C., kept GAR members posted on pension matters. The organization scored a great victory in 1879 with the passage of the Arrears of Pension Act, which led many more veterans to apply for pensions. Theoretically, only those who suffered disabilities in service were entitled to pensions, but it became the practice for lenient Congressmen to introduce private pension bills. These were almost always granted until Grover Cleveland, the first President to examine the bills critically, found many of them to be fraudulent. The fact that Cleveland was a Democrat further confirmed GAR members in their staunch Republicanism. Auxiliary societies associated with the GAR were the Sons of Veterans (1881), the Women's Relief Corps (1883), and the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic (1886). A separate veterans organization, the United Confederate Veterans, was organized in 1889, but its membership (less than 50,000 at its peak) never approached that of the GAR. With the coming of the 20th cent. the GAR declined rapidly in numbers and influence. The 83d and last encampment was also held at Indianapolis, on Aug. 28-31, 1949, with 6 of the 16 surviving members in attendance. The last member of the GAR died in 1956.

Bibliography: See M. R. Dearing, Veterans in Politics: The Story of the G.A.R. (1952).

Grand Army of the Republic the largest association of Union army and navy veterans, formed by former army surgeon Benjamin F. Stephenson in 1866 in Decatur, Illinois. It grew slowly but eventually reached a peak membership of 409,489 in 1890, accounting for about 40 percent of eligible Union veterans. Organized into local branches, the group was open to any honorably discharged Union veteran. The organization wielded significant political power as a result of its strong lobbying for benefits for veterans and their dependents. Its influence ebbed after 1900, and its last member died in 1956.

Grand Army of the Republic. The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was the largest and most powerful organization of Union army and navy veterans. Founded on 6 April 1866 at Decatur, Illinois, by former army surgeon Benjamin Franklin Stephenson, its proclaimed objects were “Fraternity, Charity, and Loyalty.” Its basic unit was the local post, with membership open to any honorably discharged Union veteran. The social composition of GAR membership was cross‐class, and to some extent cross‐racial, though black veterans usually were relegated to segregated posts.

Between 1866 and 1872, the GAR operated as a virtual wing of the Republican Party, boosting the careers of soldier‐politicians such as Sen. John Logan of Illinois. After 1872, it entered a steep decline, reaching a low of 26,899 members in 1876. In the 1880s, the GAR revived as a fraternal order, emphasizing its secret initiation ritual and the provision of charity to needy veterans. It soon became an active and powerful national pension lobby, and the custodian of a conservative version of American nationalism, stressing the ideals of the independent producer and the volunteer citizen‐soldier. At its peak membership of 409,489 in 1890, the Grand Army enrolled about 40 percent of eligible Union veterans. The GAR declined in influence after 1900, acting largely as the keeper of Memorial Day, which Commander in Chief Logan had first proclaimed as gravesite Decoration Day in 1868. It held its last national encampment at Indianapolis in 1949. The GAR never became a hereditary order or admitted veterans of later wars; thus it disappeared with the death of its last member in 1956.
[See also Veterans: Civil War.]

Bibliography

Mary R. Dearing , Veterans in Politics: The Story of the G.A.R., 1952.
Stuart McConnell , Glorious Contentment: The Grand Army of the Republic, 1866–1900, 1992.

Stuart McConnell