Brief History of the Grand Army of the Republic
In early 1866 the United States of America--now securely one nation again--was waking to the reality of recovery from war, and this had been a much different war. In previous conflicts the care of the veteran warrior was the province of the family or the community. Soldiers then were friends, relatives and neighbors who went off to fight--until the next planting or harvest. It was a community adventure and their fighting unit had a community flavor.
By the end of the Civil War, units had become less homogeneous, men from different communities and even different states were forced together by the exigencies of battle where new friendships and lasting trust was forged. With the advances in the care and movement of the wounded, many who would have surely died in earlier wars returned home to be cared for by a community structure weary from a protracted war and now also faced with the needs of widows and orphans. Veterans needed jobs, including a whole new group of veterans--the colored soldier and his entire, newly freed, family. It was often more than the fragile fabric of communities could bear.
State and federal leaders from President Lincoln down had promised to care for "those who have borne the burden, his widows and orphans," but they had little knowledge of how to accomplish the task. There was also little political pressure to see that the promises were kept.
But probably the most profound emotion was emptiness. Men who had lived together, fought together, foraged together and survived, had developed an unique bond that could not be broken. As time went by the memories of the filthy and vile environment of camp life began to be remembered less harshly and eventually fondly. The horror and gore of battle lifted with the smoke and smell of burnt black powder and was replaced with the personal rain of tears for the departed comrades. Friendships forged in battle survived the separation and the warriors missed the warmth of trusting companionship that had asked only total and absolute commitment.
With that as background, groups of men began joining together--first for camaraderie and then for political power. Emerging most powerful among the various organizations would be the Grand Army of the Republic.
The GAR was founded by Benjamin F. Stephenson, M.D., on April 6, 1866, in Decatur, Illinois. The Grand Army of the Republic was composed of veterans of the Union Army who had served in the Civil War. Its organization was based partly on the traditions of Freemasonry, and partly on military tradition; it was divided 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. The Grand Army of the Republic in Illinois was the largest organization of Union veterans of the Civil War. The organization promoted comradeship among veterans, worked to increase pensions and assist war widows and orphans, and maintained homes for old soldiers.
The organization wielded considerable political clout nationwide. Between 1868 and 1908, no Republican was nominated to the presidency without a GAR endorsement. In 1868, General Order #11 of the GAR called for May 30 to be designated as a day of memorial for Union veterans; originally called "Decoration Day," this later evolved into the U.S. national Memorial Day holiday. The GAR was also active in pension legislation, establishing retirement homes for soldiers, and many other areas which concerned Union veterans. The influence of the GAR led to the creation of the Old Soldiers' Homes of the late 19th century, which evolved into the current United States Department of Veterans Affairs.
The GAR created the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) in 1881 to ensure the preservation of their own mission after Union war veterans had all died. The GAR also generated several auxiliary organizations such as the National Woman's Relief Corps[1], Ladies of the GAR[2], and Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865, many of which are still active. A comparable organization for Confederate veterans was the United Confederate Veterans.
There was some controversy over the fact that the membership badge of the GAR closely resembled the Army's version of the Medal of Honor, causing confusion and animosity among veterans. The issue was resolved with a re-design of the latter in 1896.
The GAR reached its largest enrollment in 1890, with 490,000 members. It held an annual "National Encampment" every year from 1866 to 1949. In 1956, after the death of the last member, Albert Woolson, the GAR was formally dissolved. Its records went to the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., and its badges, flags, and official seal went to the Smithsonian Institution.
Department of Tennessee
The department of Tennessee was organized in the fall of 1866, though it included Alabama and Georgia, continuing this way until 1868, when it became a department for Tennessee alone. The permanent organization of the departments of Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia was effected in August, 1868, Col. F. W. Sparing being chosen commander of the department of Tennessee. There were seventeen posts reported in this state in December of that year, the largest being at Nashville, with 600 members. The department officers were F. W. Sparing, department commander: Enoas Hopkins, senior vice-commander: E. A. Otris, junior vice-commander: J. A. Fason, medical director, Johnathan Huntington, chaplain. But it was found impossible at that time to maintain the organization which lapsed until its reorganization in 1883.
In that year E. S. Jones, of Nashville, was appointed provisional commander, and authorized to organize posts in Tennessee, the original posts having allowed their membership to lapse. Maj. A. W. Wills, now postmaster at Nashville, was appointed assistant adjutant general and a number of posts were quickly organized. A permanent department organization was effected February 26, 1884, with Col. E. S. Jones as commander. He died in 1886, and was succeeded by E. E. Winters, who, in turn, was followed by W. J. Ramage, of the city in 1887. Next came Capt. Wm. Rule, of Post 14 of this city in 1888. Subsequent incumbents of this office were A. H. Pettibone, Greenville, 1889: Charles F. Muller, of Paris, in 1890; A. J. Gahagan, of Chattanooga, 1891; H. C. Whitaker, of Knoxville, 1893; W. E. F. Milburn, Greenville,1894; Wm. J. Smith, of Memphis, 1895; Halbert B. Case, of Chattanooga, 1896; W. H. Nelson, of Backwoods, 1897; H. Crumbliss, of Kingston, 1899; S. T. Harris, of Johnson City, 1900, and M. M. Harris, of this city, the present department commander. There are now seventy posts in Tennessee, having a total membership of about 1800.
Garfield Post No. 25 Athens, McMinn Co., TN
Garfield Post No, 25 GAR of McMinn Co. was organized on November 29, 1884. The Post was named Garfield in honor of James A. Garfield the twentieth President of the United States, who was assassinated in 1881.
The first commander of Garfield Post was W. F. McCarron. Mr. McCarron was successfully re-elected commander for five years and was again elected in 1901 and 1902. The following newly elected officers were installed for Garfield Post No. 25 in Athens, TN on March 3, 1902: W. F. McCarron, commander; George W. Kelly , Senior V. C.; J. W. Cochran, Junior, V. C.; Henry L. Sloop, adjutant; Jas. L. Crow, O. M.; Jesse W. Beavers, surgeon; Milt Kelly, chaplain; John J. Jackson, O. D.; Geo. W. Henderson, O. G.; J. M. Simpson, S. M.; W. W. Lowry, O. M. S. John D. Long, ex-trustee of McMinn County, was elected delegate to the state encampment which meets in Chattanooga. In 1902 there were four post commanders in good standing still living: Jas. R. Gettys, Geo. W. Kelly, Joel I. Pyatt and J. D. Redding, and only eighty members remained of the 150 who had enrolled in Garfield since 1884. A big event for Civil War soldiers in McMinn County was the annual summer reunion of the Fourth Tennessee federal cavalry.
On May 30, 1901 Garfield Post observed GAR. Memorial Day in Athens. Members of the Post and friends of veterans gathered at the court house at 10:00 A. M. with flowers and marched to Cedar Grove Cemetery were they decorated the graves of 28 comrades buried in the cemetery.
The U. S. Government provided free tomb stones for veterans of the Civil War and the Garfield Post provided the service of ordering tomb stones for veterans buried in the county. The following article appeared in the Athenian on April 5, 1902.
NOTICE, OLD SOLDIERS.
Tomb Stones for Graves can be Had for Your Friends Free of Cost.
At the last meeting of Garfield Post action was taken to request the friends of all deceased soldiers buried any where in McMinn County at whose graves no tomb stones have ever been placed, to send in the names of such soldier, giving his name plainly and correctly spelled, with the company and regiment to which he belonged, and date of death, to any member of the Post in Athens, and a marble head stone will be ordered for same, and shipped to Athens free of cost, provided the friends of the deceased will be kind enough to agree to come here and get it and see to putting it in place at the soldier’s grave.
This is a tender provision made by the government that the names of its soldiers may not be forgotten, however humble or exalted their service may have been.
Garfield Post ordered many of these head stones several years ago, but there are fourteen of them now in Athens which have never been called for, a sad dommentary upon friends, If they have any. The following is the list published with the hope that some one may thus be spurred up to a sense of duty they owe to the memory of these defenders of their country viz:
Elijah Sims, Christopher Foster, Calvin Hitson and James Hannah, all of Co. A, 7th Tenn. mounted infantry. J. W. Whaley, Co. F, 3rd Tenn. Cav. Jacob Hampton, Co. C, 3rd Tenn. Cav. J. C. Mize, Co. D, 10th Tenn. Cav. Elijah Roland, Co. D, 5th Tenn. mounted inft. Sergt. Caswell Hicks, Co. K, 9th Tenn. Cav. J. C. gray, Co. F, 2nd Tenn. Cav. P. F. Trepanier, Co. L, 2nd Ohio heavy artillery. Coleman Cardon, Co. A, 42nd U. S. G. T. Smith Deadrich, Co. I, 1st U. S. H. A. Corporal Emanuel Hoyl, Co. H, 1st U. S. H. A.
The last four of the above were colored men, some of whom have relatives or friends in Athens, while the rest of the list doubtless have friends some where in the county who may not know that these head stones are here.
It is not necessary that deceased soldiers should have been members of any Grand Army Post to entitle their friends to secure head stones for them, but Garfield Post will be pleased to aid in getting them just the same if application is made as above indicated.
By order of Garfield Post April 5, 1902. W. F. McCarron, Commander. H. L. Sloop, Adjutant.
The GAR had considerable clout in the political arena nationwide and also on the local level. The White House issued the following Executive Order signed by Theodore Roosevelt on January 17, 1902.
“The attention of the Departments is hereby called to the provisions of the laws giving preference to veterans in appointment and retention. The President desires that whenever the needs of the service will justify it and the laws will permit, preference shall be given alike in appointment and retention to honorable discharged veterans of the Civil War who are fit and qualified to perform the duties of the places which they seek or are filling.”
In 1907 W. F. McCarron (past commander of Garfield Post) was an applicant for the position of Postmaster in Athens. Garfield Post sent the following letter of endorsement for W. F. McCarron to the President.
SIR:
Hon. W. F. McCarron, of Athens, Tennessee, is an applicant for the appointment of Postmaster of hi town, to which application his comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic beg to call your attention and invite your favorable consideration.
Comrade McCarron has an honorable record as a soldier in the Civil War from Iowa, having enlisted in 1861 in the 12th Iowa Infantry, form which he was promoted as sergeant for meritorious service to the First Lieutenancy of Co. G 8th Iowa Cavalry, in which he served to the close of the war. The record of his service covers more than thirty battles, including Ft. Donelson, Shiloh, the Atlanta Campaign, Nashville, etc., during which he was never absent from his command a single day except when twice a prisoner of war, on one of which occasions he escaped and resumed active service. For further facts of his war record he respectfully refers to the archives of the War Department.
The muster roll of his company shows that Comrade McCarron’s occupation was that of a teacher when he enlisted 46 years ago. He resumed this occupation in connection with his studies after the war, and later won distinction as a pioneer of the early ‘70s in the establishment of the present public school system of Tennessee. He spent eighteen years as a teacher and superintendent of schools; is a graduate of Grant University at Athens, Tennessee, and is still a recognized leader in the educational work of Tennessee.
POLITICAL ACTIVITIES
In 1884, Comrade McCarron established The Athenian at Athens, Tenn., a weekly Republican newspaper, which he conducted for eighteen years, and which is still recognized as one of the leading Republican weeklies of the state. He has served two terms with distinction in the State Senate of Tennessee, and has three times been the Republican nominee by acclamation, for Presidential Elector in his (Third) Congressional district. He was always recognized as one of the best among the public speakers of Tennessee, and few men have done more than he both in writhing and speaking, in maintaining the doctrines of Republicanism in the South.
Comrade McCarron is yet in good health and strength, but as old age creeps on he feels the need of a better income for the maintenance of his family, and he believes that the Government and the party which he has so long and faithfully served should now recognize his request to be appointed postmaster.
In this request his comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic, of which organization he has long been a leading member, earnestly join.
Garfield Post was responsible for most of the Memorial Day activities on May 30, 1914 in Athens around the court house. The Post elected a committee to organize events such as speaking contest and to recruit boys and girls to participate. This was particularly true as regards to the many children who added to the enjoyment of the occasion by their songs and recitations, and the zeal with which they entered into the speaking contest. There were aforenoon and afternoon festivities which included a children’s cantata and vocal music led by Mrs. Jas. B. Hedge. The first event of the day was the decoration ceremony. The Boys Scouts led the color guard furnished by Company I of the National Guard to Cedar Grove Cemetery where a speech was delivered with a gun salute, afterwards followed by taps blown on the bugle, and the scattering of flowers on all graves where a small flag had been placed.
A prize of $5.00 had been offered by old soldiers of Garfield Post for the best delivered patriotic recitation, and $2.50 in gold for the second best, among five school boys, and five girls. The five boy contestants and their selected recitations were:
ROSCOE PALMER--Sheridan’s Ride by Thomas Buchanan Read.
CLYDE T. BURNS--A Flag on Every School House, by Co. J. A. Joel, 1895.
EDWARD FOREE--God Bless the Flag, extracts from address by Henry Watterson to G. A. R., in Louisville, KY, 1895.
ERNEST E. FRYAR--Mustered Out, by Rev. Wm. E. Miller, a young soldier wounded and dying at Gettysburg.
LUCIUS G. STANSELL--Paul Reverie’s Ride, by H. W. Longfellow.
The girls who made their recitations at 2:00 P. M. were as follows:
NORA E. CRITTENDON--When Mother Sings, By Mabel Holmes Koplin.
REVA RANKIN--At the Head of the Line, Nation Tribune.
AGNES BAYLESS--The Name of Old Glory, by James Whitcomb Riley.
ZELLA L. FOX--The Blue and the Grey, by Francis Miles Finch.
ADELAIDE B. CRAIG--The Rising in 1776, by Thomas Buchanan Read.
The judges for the event were Rev. J. B. Ely, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Mr. Jesse Ware, county tax assessor, and Mrs. W. B. Crawford. First prize winner for the boys was Clyde T. Burns; second prize Edwin Foree. Agnes Bayless won first prize for the girls; Reva Rankin second prize.