Before our V.F.W. (Veterans of Foreign Wars) and V.A. (Veterans Administration) and American Legion, there was an organization called G.A.R. which stands for Grand Army of the Republic. It was a fraternal organization made up of American Union soldiers and sailors who served in our Civil War. There had been earlier groups focusing on advocating for American war survivors and their families. It seems like as soon as any conflict is over, the general public wants to push their collective memories aside along with the men and women who fought it. I consider it a shame on our society.
The G.A.R. was significant because of the sheer numbers of men involved in the Civil War. This one war created more deaths, crippling injuries, and what we now refer to as PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, than any other American conflict in our history. Trench warfare, which was a new tactic at the time, created prolonged battles. Massive infantry charges against deadly cannon firing shrapnel cannisters resulted in tens of thousands of casualties in a single day of battle. The rifles that were used then were generally used low velocity balls and black powder. These rifle balls left grizzly results. Rather than passing through flesh quickly and exiting, the ball would shatter bones and tear limbs. The Civil War produced more veterans with missing arm and legs than any previous war.
A soldier who had participated in many battles and had fired his rifle hundreds of times often developed a condition that rotted away lips and teeth. To quickly fire a Civil War rifle, each soldier would have to load black powder using a premeasured paper cartridge. The soldier would hold the cartridge with one hand and tear off the top of the paper cartridge with his teeth and pour the black powder down the barrel, drop in a lead ball, tamp it with a rod, aim and fire the rifle. The result of repeated lip contact with black power was debilitating. Civil War veterans on both sides often left the service with crutches, speech impediments, or mental problems that made them unemployable. A former farmer might be unable to operate a plow.
The G.A.R was started in 1866, soon after the end of the Civil War. It was founded by Benjamin Franklin Stephenson of Springfield, Illinois, who served two years as a surgeon. It quickly grew into a fraternal organization with meetings, local chapters and national leadership. They collected money for needy Union veterans, widows, and orphans. They founded soldiers homes to care for soldiers and sailors. Many were later transferred to the Federal government to sustain the care of veterans.
Membership peaked in 1890 with about 400,000. The G.A.R. had uniforms and often participated in parades. It encouraged preservation of Civil War sites, canons, monuments, and statues. In 1868, it organized a day of remembrance on May 30 by promoting flowers on graves of fallen comrades. This “Decoration Day” evolved into our present Memorial Day, which honors all those have served in the military. Later, the G.A.R formed a Women’s Auxiliary Relief Corp. Due to sheer numbers of members and families, G.A.R. became a powerful lobby force to push pensions for Union veterans who were poor and unable to provide. Several U. S. Presidents courted the favor of the G.A.R. as critical to their campaigns. In the turbulent Reconstruction Era after the Civil War, the G.A.R made a huge step toward accepting Negros into their ranks. It was not total integration. Rather, it followed the pattern of separation of Black regiments that existed during the war. Still, local Black chapters were welcomed as part of the national organization and benefited by political clout. At one time, the G.A.R. boasted 41 chapters in Louisiana, 28 of which were Black. The G.A.R. has been succeeded by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, an organization for descendants much like the Daughters of the American Revolution and Sons of the American Revolution. Soon I will be detailing some of Rio Blanco County’s Civil War veterans. There are lot of gaps in my information. If you have an ancestor from the war, please contact me through this paper, so that they too can be honored.
Thank you to all those who work with veterans today and in the past. May God bless you.
Source: SUVCW.ORG ; DPL.
By ED PECK
Special to the Herald Times
