The Grand Army of the Republic

The Grand Army of the Republic, or GAR, was founded on April 6, 1866, in Decatur, Illinois. This veterans' organization was open to honorably discharged veterans of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Revenue Cutter Service who served during the war.

The GAR began as a fraternal organization, but soon developed into a force for veteran's affairs, including working to ensure soldiers' pensions and constructing soldiers' home. The GAR final meeting took place in 1949 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Its last member, Albert Woolson, died in 1956 at  age 109.

During the GAR National Encampment held in San Francisco in 1886, the Department of New York presented a banner to the Department of California. Here's the banner in the encampment's grand procession. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA)

The GAR's Department of California and Nevada was organized on February 21, 1868. Eventually, the department was home to nearly 200 individual posts, all of which were named for deceased veterans. No two posts in the same department were supposed to be named for the same deceased veteran. While the last National Encampment was held in 1949, the Department of California and Nevada continued to hold their annual Department Encampments into the 1950s.



The last member of the Department, William Allen Magee of Company M, 12th Ohio Cavalry, died in Long Beach, California, on January 23, 1953 at age 106.

Here's a close-up of the banner the Department of California received at the 1886 GAR National Encampment (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA).

The group continues today as the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. It is open to descendants of honorably discharged Union veterans. The National Archives also has Civil War veterans' information available in its military holdings.