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| G.A.R. Burial Ground, Pine Grove Cemetery, Lynn, MA. Thary Sun Lim |
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| G.A.R. Museum, 58 Andrews Street, Lynn MA |
The Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R) was formed by Civil War Veterans in 1866. The first post was in Decatur, Illinois, but the G.A.R grew rapidly to over 7000 posts all over the U.S.; some with a dozen members, some large posts with over one thousand members. The Lynn, MA post, General Frederick W. Lander Post No. 5, was one of the larger posts with 2,000 members at the height of it's membership. (Note in my video I mistakenly state that Lynn membership was a half million, that was the national number).
The G.A.R. motto was Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty and the organization grew to accomplish all three of the virtues in their motto. They built soldiers homes and helped wounded veterans, widows and orphans with their charity. The G.A.R became the nation's most powerful advocacy organization, able to elect or defeat U.S. presidential candidates and the G.A.R. successfully lobbied to pass significant pension benefits legislation for Civil War Veterans in 1890. At that point their membership numbers had grown to almost a half-million. They also erected buildings, monuments and memorials to veterans and the war all over the country. Can you find a G.A.R. building or monument in your town or city? If you do, take a picture of it and post it up on the blog.
The national G.A.R. elected a Commander-in-Chief every two years and in 1893 the Commander-in-Chief was John G.B. Adams of Lynn. This was one of the most powerful period's of the G.A.R.'s existence and it attests to the economic and political power-house that Lynn was at that time.
By 1919 the members of the Lynn Post were quickly passing away. The Lynn Post petitioned the state legislature for a special act to hand over the post as a museum to the City of Lynn. The special act was passed and Lynn voters passed a ballot measure to accept the G.A.R. as a museum of the City of Lynn. In 1979 The G.A.R. Hall in Lynn was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Click on the links below to learn more about the G.A.R. and to see views of the interior of the Lynn Hall.
Library of Congress Introduction to the G.A.R. Collection
Link to Lynn City Site for Panorama View of the G.A.R Museum in Lynn, MA
Link to the video I took in front of the G.A.R. in Lynn
I agree with the G.A.R. in terms of their aphorism "Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty and the organization grew to accomplish all three of the virtues in their motto". One thing I dislike about the G.A.R is how they became powerful enough to impact the voice of the people in a sense that the organization was "able to elect or defeat U.S. presidential candidates" which can be viewed as unjust. I believe that the G.A.R. had impacted the not only impacted the lives of Veterans but communities with their sympathetic indulgence. By " erected buildings, monuments and memorials to veterans and the war all over the country" I will make sure that the G.A.R.'s actions will never go unnoticed.
ReplyDeleteSide-note - The Grand Army of the Republic Hall virtual view gives a great rustic view of the historical perception and flashback of this individual group.
I have actually been to the G.A.R. last year for a school project in my history class. I tried to see if they had any information on my great great great uncle who fought in the Civil War. Unfortunately I could not find anything on him because I did not know his name. I have a picture of my great great great uncle and hopefully they might have something on him if they see the picture.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great story. I have not been to the G.A.R Museum but this is something I definitely want to visit. Before taking this history class, I did not know about this museum and it is quite interesting.
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