330 



GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC. 



On October 31, 1866, a call was issued for a 

 National Convention, which was held in In- 

 dianapolis November 20, with representatives 

 present from Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Wis- 

 consin, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, 

 Kentucky, Indiana, and the District of Colum- 

 bia. Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut, of Illinois, 

 was elected Commander- in -Chief, with Dr. 

 Stephenson as his Adjutant-General. 



The second general meeting, which was the 

 first officially named an " Encampment," met 

 in the council chambers of Independence Hall, 

 Philadelphia, Jan. 15, 1868, and Gen. John A. 

 Logan was chosen Commander-in-Chief. At 

 this time, owing to various dissensions, the 

 order experienced a period of depression. It 

 was charged with being a secret political or- 

 ganization, and, during the two or three years 

 that followed, its membership was largely re- 

 duced by resignation, and the loss was hardly 

 balanced by new recruits. The constitution 

 and by-laws were revised and adapted to the 

 requirements of the case, resulting eventually 

 in renewed vitality, and in its establishment 

 on a basis of assured prosperity. Under the 

 present constitution the following named per- 

 sons are eligible for membership : Soldiers and 

 sailors of the United States army, navy, or ma- 

 rine corps, between April 12, 1861, and April 

 9, 1865, in the war for the suppression of the 

 rebellion, and those having been honorably 

 discharged therefrom after such service, and 

 of such State regiments as were called into ac- 

 tive service and subject to the orders of United 

 States general officers between the dates men- 

 tioned, shall be eligible to membership in the 

 Grand Array of the Republic. No person shall 

 be eligible who has at any time borne arms 

 against the United States. 



The order has from the first taken a promi- 

 nent part in the observance of Decoration 

 Day, or, as it is now more appropriately 

 known, Memorial Day. May 30 of each year 

 has been set apart as a national holiday ; 

 banks and public offices are closed, and the 

 survivors of the National armies meet at their 

 respective posts and march together to deco- 

 rate with flowers and appropriate devices the 

 graves of their former comrades. A simple 

 uniform has been adopted similar to that worn 

 in the service, and the occasion is an impres- 

 sive one in almost every considerable town 

 and village in the Northern United States. 



When on duty, or on occasions of state and 

 ceremony, members of the Grand Army 

 "comrades" as they are officially termed 

 wear the badge designated as No. 1 in the il- 

 lustration. No. 2 is the officers' badge, No. 3 

 the past or retired officers 1 badge, and No. 4 

 the button worn when off duty and in civil- 

 ian's dress. The cross-bars designate the rank 

 of the wearer according to the insignia of the 

 United States Army, and all the metal-work is 

 of bronze, made from cannon captured during 

 the civil war. The commanders-in-chief of 

 the Grand Army have been as follows, the 



dates and places of their election correspond- 

 ing with the annual encampments as indi- 

 cated : 



1. Stephen A. Hurlbut, of Illinois, Indianap- 

 olis, Nov. 20, 1866. 



2. John A. Logan, of Illinois, Philadelphia, 

 Jan. 15, 1868; re-elected (3) at Cincinnati, 

 May 12, 1869; and again (4) at Washington, 

 May 11, 1870 (died Dec. 26, 1886). 



5. Ambrose E. Burnside, of Rhode Island, 

 Boston, May 10, 1871 ; re-elected (6) at Cleve- 

 land, May 8, 1872 (died Sept. 3, 1881). 



7. Charles Devins, Jr., of Massachusetts, New 

 Haven, Conn., May 14, 1873 ; re-elected (8) at 

 Harrisburg, Pa., May 13, 1874. 



9. John F. Hartranft, of Pennsylvania, Chi- 

 cago, May 12, 1875 ; re-elected (10) at Phila- 

 delphia, June 30, 1876. 



11. John 0. Robinson, of New York, Provi- 

 dence, R. I., June 26, 1877 ; re-elected (12) at 

 Springfield, Mass., June 4, 1878. 



13. William Earnshaw, of Ohio, Albany, N. 

 Y., June 17, 1879. 



14. Louis Wagner, of Pennsylvania, Day- 

 ton, O., June 8, 1880. 



15. George 8. Merrill, of Massachusetts, In- 

 dianapolis, June 15, 1881. 



16. Paul Vender voort, of Nebraska, Balti- 

 more, June 21, 1882. 



17. Robert B. Beath, of Pennsylvania, Den- 

 ver, July 25, 1883. 



18. John S. Kountz, of Ohio, Minneapolis, 

 July 23, 1884. 



19. S. S. Burdette, of Washington, D. C., 

 Portland, Me., June 24, 1885. 



An organization so powerful in numbers and 

 influence could not but excite animosities based 

 upon supposed political sympathies, and as 

 early in its history as 1869 it was deemed best 

 at the annual encampment, held that year in 

 Cincinnati, to adopt the following rule : 



" No officer or comrade of the Grand Army 

 of the Republic shall in any manner use this 

 organization for partisan purposes, and no dis- 

 cussion of partisan questions shall be permitted 

 at any of its meetings, nor shall any nomina- 

 tions for political purposes be made." It is one 

 thing to pass such a resolution, and quite 

 another to carry it out iu letter and in spirit. 

 In the nature of things it was unavoidable that 

 members should become candidates for office, 

 and that members already holding public office 

 should be prominent in the conduct of Grand 

 Army affairs, but it is believed that in a re- 

 markable degree unseemly partisanship has 

 been avoided, and certainly no formal action 

 has at any time been taken that can fairly becon- 

 strued as a deliberate violation of the rule cited. 

 Another charge that has been brought against 

 the organization is that it tends to keep alive 

 the bitter memories of the civil war, but such 

 charges have never come from the soldiers of 

 the Confederacy. Indeed, its relations with 

 similar organizations among veterans of the 

 Confederate service have ever been most 

 friendly, and upon several occasions ex-soldiers 



