Department of North Carolina
Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
Department Order #7
Series 2015-2016
6 April 2016
GRAND ARMY SESQUICENTENNIAL
Section 1: The Grand Army of the Republic was founded on this day in 1866 by Civil War veteran Major Benjamin F. Stephenson, MD. The first GAR Post, Decatur Illinois Post #1, was chartered and instituted with twelve Union Army veterans. Dr. Stephenson created the GAR as a fraternal organization dedicated to helping honorably discharged Union veterans. The founding cardinal principles of the Grand Army were “Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty”.
Section 2: The 1st GAR National Encampment was held in 1866 in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the 83rd and last National Encampment was held in Indianapolis in 1949. At that time, there were 16 surviving members of the GAR, and only 6 were able to attend the Encampment, including Commander-in-Chief Theodore Penland, and future last living Civil War veteran Albert Woolson.
Section 3: The peak membership of the GAR was 409,489 members in 1890 with almost 7000 local posts. When Albert Woolson died on August 2, 1956, the Grand Army of the Republic
passed into history and dissolved. Our Order, the SUVCW, is the legal heir and successor to the Grand Army of the Republic.
Section 4:
The first Purpose and Object of the SUVCW is “To perpetuate the memory of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the men who saved the Union 1861 to 1865”. All Brothers and Camps of the Department of North Carolina are encouraged to commemorate and observe the national sesquicentennial of the Grand Army of the Republic on this day by flying your flag from your house, by remembering the GAR ancestors in your family, and by honoring all of the Boys in Blue who fought to preserve the Union.
The first Purpose and Object of the SUVCW is “To perpetuate the memory of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the men who saved the Union 1861 to 1865”. All Brothers and Camps of the Department of North Carolina are encouraged to commemorate and observe the national sesquicentennial of the Grand Army of the Republic on this day by flying your flag from your house, by remembering the GAR ancestors in your family, and by honoring all of the Boys in Blue who fought to preserve the Union.
So Ordered the 6th Day of April, 2016
Yours in Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty,
Dennis C. St. Andrew, PDC
Commander, Department of North Carolina
Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
Attest: John France, Department Secretary/Treasurer
