Grand Army of the Republic Have you ever noticed in old photos of Civil War Veterans that some of them always have medals on their label? A lot of Union veterans were members of the Grand Army of the Republic which was a fraternal organization formed in 1866 for men who fought for the Union. The groups had regular meetings which were aimed at keeping the Union veterans in contact with each other; and there were even annual State and National meetings of this group. The Grand Army of the Republic dissolved in 1956 when its last member died. Madison County had six Grand Army of the Republic posts: Wharton Post #24 at Huntsville; Stricklen Post #31 at Drakes Creek; the H. F. McDanield Post #60 at St. Paul; the Phil Sheridan Post #61 at Aurora; the Crook Post #64 at Kingston; and the War Eagle Post #83 at Forum. These G.A.R. medals were important to these veterans and can be seen on their lapels in most pictures they had taken. Most families do not have their ancestors medals - and I think this is most likely due to the fact that the medals were still on their lapels when they were buried. The Grand Army of the Republic medal shown below is owned by me but I bought it on ebay and I have no idea who it belonged to. There are symbols on both the front and back of the medals which normally hang from a ribbon attached to an Eagle symbol. All of the symbols have a meaning and you can google the Grand Army of the Republic and find a lot of information about these symbols. If anyone has a G.A.R. medal that belonged to any of their ancestors, I would love to see photos of it.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 16:08:29 +0000
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