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), Marines and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War. Founded in 1866 in Springfield, Illinois, and growing to include hundreds of posts (local community units) across the nation (predominately in the North, but also a few in the South and West), it was dissolved in 1956 at the death of its last member, Albert Woolson (1850–1956) of Duluth, Minnesota. Linking men through their experience of the war, the G.A.R. 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. Its peak membership, at more than 490,000, was in 1890, a high point of various Civil War commemorative and monument dedication ceremonies. 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.
Memorials, honors & commemorations
There are physical memorials to the Grand Army of the Republic in numerous communities throughout the United States.
U.S. Route 6 is known as the Grand Army of the Republic Highway for its entire length.
The Commemoration of the American Civil War on postage stamps began during the conflict by both sides. In 1948, the Grand Army of the Republic was commemorated on a stamp. In 1951, the U.S. Postal Service printed a virtually identical stamp for the final reunion of the United Confederate Veterans.
Every state (even those of the former Confederacy) fell within a GAR "Department," and within these Departments were the "Posts" (forerunners of modern American Legion Halls or VFW Halls). The posts were made up of local veterans, many of whom participated in local civic events. As the posts were formed, they were assign to the home Department of the National Commander-in-chief of the year that they were chartered. There was no GAR post in London, but there was a Civil War Veterans Association Group that had many GAR members belonging to it.
As Civil War veterans died or were no longer able to participate in GAR activities, posts consolidated or were disbanded. Posts were assigned a sequential number based on their admission into the state's GAR organization, and most posts held informal names which honored comrades, battles, or commanders; it was not uncommon to have more than one post in a state honoring the same individual (such as Abraham Lincoln) and posts often changed their informal designation by vote of the local membership.
The National Woman's Relief Corps, Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic, Inc., is a patriotic organization whose express purpose is to perpetuate the memory of the Grand Army of the Republic, as their auxiliary organized at their request on July 25 and 26, 1883 in Denver, Colorado, and incorporated by Public Act of the 87th Congress on September 7, 1962.
The W.R is one of the many women's organizations that were founded after the American Civil War. In 1879, a group of Massachusetts women started a "secret" organization and its members were to be women who were loyal to the Northduring the American Civil War.
From 1879, the WRC held as the primary means to identify women who were eligible to become members was remaining loyal to the Union. It didn't matter where the applicants lived during the Civil War as long as they could prove loyal to the Union. While it might be easy to assume that this organization was only for white women, there were many Posts across the country that had African-American women as members. The only challenge identifying these women is that the WRC records do not specify the races of its members very often. The organization was designed to assist the GAR, promote and help run Memorial Day (alongside the GAR), petition the federal government for nurses pensions, and promote patriotic education.
The cache is not at the posted coordinates! To find the cache you must solve the puzzle below by going to the listed coordinates and finding the information needed to acquire the true coordinates.
You can find the cache at N 43° 23.ABC W 071° 03.DEF
A - Erected by ... No 1A minus 2
B - number of letters in the name of the ship that was sunk
C - first digit of the number on the bench to the rear right of the monument
D - number of letters in the name of the ship that did the sinking.
E - forth digit of the year the WRC was established
F - second digit of the year the ship was sunk
Be sure to bring a writing instrument. There is no room for one in the cache.