Yesterday’s News Remembering Our Forgotten Past April 2024
The Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.)
DANIEL OLIVER was a member of the G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic), J.L. Reno Post, No. 47. This was the second G.A.R. post founded in Spokane in the 1880s. Its meetings were held in Oliver Hall of the Oliver Block. A GAR sign can be seen posted on the building in photos of the time.
This fraternal organization that was the most prominent such society in the nineteenth century, has been all but forgotten by present generations. I have asked many people over the years if they had heard of it and none of them had—not even a ninety-year-old friend of mine. And yet in the late nineteenth century there was a G.A.R Hall in every city and small town in America. In Sandpoint, Idaho, where I grew up, there was a G.A.R. hall downtown where they held dances when I was a teenager. Whether the organization had meetings and members at that time I do not know. I have read that the last Civil War veteran died in 1956.
The Grand Army of the Republic was founded on April 6, 1866, on the principles of "Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty," in Decatur, Illinois, by Dr. Benjamin F. Stephenson. According to its charter the G.A.R. was to accomplish, among other things, “The preservation of those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together, with the long cords of love and affection, the comrades in arms of many battles, sieges, and marches….” And to “make provision where it is not already done for the support, care and education of soldiers’ orphans, and for the maintenance of the widows of deceased soldiers.” The organization, formed as a result of the Civil War, did not specifically made room for “colored” soldiers until 1890 when such troops were allowed to enter the existing posts of the organization and to form new posts from their own ranks.
The first call for a Post of the Grand Army in Spokane began in August 1883 with a notice in the Spokane Falls Review stating “Old soldiers should read the notice calling for the organization of a Post of the Grand Army and ‘jine in.’ “
Later that same month the newspaper printed this: “In response to the announcement published in the REVIEW some dozen veterans of the late war met in Cannon’s Hall last Friday evening for the purpose of discussing the feasibility of forming a Post of the Grand Army of the Republic.”
In September of that year there was an announcement that “the old soldiers meet in Kaufman’s office to-night to perfect the organization of a post of the Grand Army of the Republic.”
By October of that year the first post of the G.A.R., Sedgwick Post No. 8, was formed and was named after ‘the gallant veteran who gave up his life in the defense of the right.” The newspaper summarized is thus: “The old soldier boys, who worried hard tack and stood up at the front to be shot at for $13 a month and found, in order to preserve the old flag and prevent the Union from falling to pieces, have at a last succeeded in perfecting that organization of a Post of the Grand Army of the Republic that they have been figuring on for so long a time. The final “swearing in,” was performed last week under the supervision of Capt. Geo. D. Hill, commander of the Department.” The meetings were to be held in the Odd Fellows Hall.
DECORATION DAY (Memorial Day)
From the Spokane Falls Review May 29, 1886: “This, like a holiday, came into existence from a simple circumstance. In May 1866, at a small place in the southern states, a few ladies, with a feeling of grief for the loss of those dear to them fresh in their hearts, met together and with simple ceremonies, placed upon their graves the “first fresh flowers of spring time.” Those who looked on, struck with the beauty and appropriateness of the ceremony, initiated it in their localities, until in 1868, the soldiers of the north, then rapidly forming the Grand Army of the Republic, took it up and spread it and by general orders designated May 30th of each year as Memorial Day.”
On May 29 of 1886, with Decoration Day (May 30) approaching, an article in the Spokane Falls Review stated: “The Grand Army of the Republic was born of the desire to do honor to those who fell in the service of their country’s flag, and of the purpose of the strong heart and hand to themselves to become the servants of their less fortunate comrades, and of the widows and the orphans of the departed. At first our memorials service had in view those who actually fell during the period of actual war, but the fraternity engendered by our association and the growing consciousness of the importance for our country of the work done by the humblest of our comrades has led us to add to our roll of honor the name of each as he passes along. Memorial Day is the fit occasion for the renewal of our most sacred pledges for the refreshment of our most noblest aims.”
The veteran organization known as The Sons of Veterans was started in Spokane in February of 1887 with W.W. Witherspoon as the first captain. The post consisted of forty members who met twice a month.
A second G.A.R. post was instituted on January 2, 1888. It was known as J.L. Reno Post No. 47. The post started off with a charter membership of fifty, who were mustered in by General A.P. Currie, department mustering officer.
Memorial Day on May 30, 1889 was held under the auspices of the G.A.R. There were memorial services at the American Resort after a parade including members of the Sedgwick Post of the G.A.R., and the Reno Post, as well as members of the Sons of Veterans, another veteran organization. Most business houses closed in the afternoon.
Over the years after the founding of the Grand Army of the Republic the city had a number of “Grand Encampments” of the G.A.R.—a large gathering of its members from posts all over the state of Washington. The purpose of these gatherings as stated in a newspaper article was “to meet again as many of the old comrades as are left, to sing the old songs, to listen to the old campfire stories and relate again the experience of those trying days when we fought for the Union.” One such encampment took place in April of 1889 and featured participation by the entire city in decorations and displays of military events honoring the Civil War. There was a parade that formed in front of the American Resort theater. According to a story in the Spokesman-Review on that day the parade began with “The police force in platoon, with Captain Gust Martin in the lead.” This was followed by “Major Rontbe and his aids, Messrs. Bloomer, Seaman, Johnson, France, Stone, and Long.” Next in line was “Pynn’s military band of nineteen pieces in full uniform, with Joel Warren, in gaudy dress of Drum major, at their head.” Col. John I. Booge, Col. S.D. Waters, Lieutenant Brooks, and Lieutenant White, all of General Corry’s brigade staff, followed, mounted and in full dress, “making a handsome show.” This procession was followed by more military men as well as the juvenile drum corps who were loudly cheered. “Reno Post, of this place, headed the veterans. Over forty G.A.R. posts were represented in the ranks. The fire department also held a place in the parade along with “the scholars from every school in the city, numbering about 1,000.” The children carried flags and banners and kept up a constant hurrahing and furnished the merriment of the occasion. They were of all sizes and ages. Some of the inscriptions on their banners were, “On to Richmond,” “We delight to honor the old veterans,” and “We will fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.” (The last was a famous quote of General U.S. Grant at the battle of Cold Harbor.
The woman’s auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic was formed in Spokane in 1889 and included as charter members Mrs. Daniel Oliver. The purpose of the organization was said to be the care of the sick and needy. The corps met every two weeks and the women on these occasions made clothes for the needy, inquired from the members whether there were any persons in need of help, and if such was the case, funds were provided and provision furnished to them. Members of the corps also attended personally to the sick in cases where it was needed. The principal work of the post was to help old and indigent soldiers of the civil war.