The commemoration of Union Army and Navy veterans, black and white, immediately became entwined with partisan politics. The GAR initially grew and prospered as a de facto political arm of the Republican Party during the heated political contests of the Reconstruction Era. Stephenson and the first GAR Post was established in Decatur, Illinois. Emerging as most influential among the various organizations during the first post-war years was the Grand Army of the Republic, founded on April 6, 1866, on the principles of "Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty," in Springfield, Illinois, by Dr. Groups of men began joining, first for camaraderie and later for political power. Many of the veterans used their shared experiences as a basis for fellowship. Andre Stevens Civil War Collection)Īfter the end of American Civil War, various state and local organizations were formed for veterans to network and maintain connections with each other. 146, "RG Shaw Post", named after Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and established by surviving members of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment in 1871 (R. It was succeeded by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), composed of male descendants of Union Army and Union Navy veterans. Its peak membership, at 410,000, was in 1890, a high point of various Civil War commemorative and monument dedication ceremonies. became among the first organized advocacy groups in American politics, supporting voting rights for black veterans, promoting patriotic education, helping to make Memorial Day a national holiday, lobbying the United States Congress to establish regular veterans' pensions, and supporting Republican political candidates. Linking men through their experience of the war, the G.A.R. It was dissolved in 1956 at the death of its last member, Albert Woolson (1850–1956) of Duluth, Minnesota. It was founded in 1866 in Springfield, Illinois, and grew to include hundreds of "posts" (local community units) across the nation (predominantly in the North, but also a few in the South and West). The Grand Army of the Republic ( GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army ( United States Army), Union Navy ( U.S. Navy), and the Marines who served in the American Civil War.