The Grand Army of the Republic

The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)

was a society of men who fought for

the North in the Civil War. It was

formed by Benjamin F. Stephens in

Decatur, Illinois on April 6, 1866.

The society was founded to strengthen

fellowship among men who fought to

preserve the Union, to honor those

killed in the war, to provide care for

their dependents, and to uphold the

soldiers, sailors, or marines of the

Union armed forces who served between

April 12, 1861 and April 9, 1865.


The society founded soldier~s homes,

and was active in relief work and in

pension legislation. With such members

as General John Alexander Logan, who

distinguished himself while serving

under General Grant in Western

campaigns, the siege of Vicksburg and

Sherman's march through Georgia. The

OAR was instrumental in organizing the

first Memorial Day on May 30, 1868.


Departmental posts were first organized in Tennessee in the

fall of 1866, and a Provisional Department was formed on

December 30, of that year. It was organized as a permanent

department on August'18, 1878, with F. W. Sparling serving as

commander. By December 31, 1868, seventeen posts were in

existence, The post at Nashville at one time numbered six

hundred members. The Grand Army could not be then maintained in

the state and the organization soon ceased to exist.


Reorganization of the CAR began in May, 1883, with Comrade

Edward S. Jones of Nashville, appointed as Provisional

Commander with A, W Wills, Assistant Adjutant-General. Under

the leadership of Commander Jones four posts with 136 members

were soon organized. A permanent department was affected on

February 25, 1884, with Colonel Edward S. Jones as commander.

He was reelected in 1885. Colonel Jones was born in

Pennsylvania, and served during the war as a colonel in the

Third Pennsylvania Calvary. He took a great interest in the

organization, and his death on November 25, 1886, was caused by

a cold contracted while forming a post among the members of the

loyal First Alabama Calvary in the mountains of Alabama.


With the reorganization of the CAR, four department

encampments were soon established in Tennessee: February 26,

18B4, Nashville; February 26, 1885, Chattanooga; April 14,

1887, Knoxville (Post 14); April 26, 1888, Athens. By 1890, the

Grand Army of the Republic had 409,489 members in the United

States. The last member of the DAR died in 1955, and the

organization was discontinued in 1956.


The GAR held a convention at the courthouse in Maynardville,

Tennessee on January 7, 1888. Abraham Lincoln "Abe Evans

was among those that addressed the veterans at the convention. 
Read his speech online.

This GAR flag in a parade in Maynardville in 1866 by Berry Shoffner. The flag is a prized possession of the Museum and Library. -WGT

For more information on this article or any article or publication of the Union County Historical Society please write them at:

Union County Historical Society
P.O. Box 95
Maynardville, TN 37807

Or
E-mail the Union County Historical Society.

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