…the soldiers came home. Their loved ones didn’t understand what they went through as soldiers. The horrendous battles, the conditions of life in camp, the despair, the mud, the fear, the thrill of victory, the devastation of comrades lost in battle or from disease, and more.
They banded together after the war and formed veterans’ organizations for camaraderie. The largest of these was the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.). They fought for pension legislation and Homes for soldiers. They built monuments so that future generations would not forget the terrible sacrifices this nation paid for Freedom.
Below are some links you may find of interest –
Founded on April 15, 1865, this is the oldest of the patriotic and fraternal veteran organizations that were created after the Civil War.
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 we are 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 Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) is a fraternal organization dedicated to preserving the history and legacy of veteran heroes who fought and worked to save the Union in the American Civil War. Organized in 1881 and chartered by Congress in 1954, SUVCW is the legal heir and successor to the Grand Army of the Republic.
In 1881 the GAR formed the Sons of Veterans of the United States of America (SV) to carry on its traditions and memory long after the GAR had ceased to exist. Membership was open to any man who could prove ancestry to a member of the GAR or to a veteran eligible for membership in the GAR. In later years, men who did not have the ancestry to qualify for hereditary membership, but who demonstrated a genuine interest in the Civil War and could subscribe to the purpose and objectives of the SUVCW, were admitted as Associates. This practice continues today.
Many GAR Posts sponsored Camps of the SV. In 1925 the SV name was changed to Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), under which its federal charter was issued in 1954. The SUVCW is legally recognized as the heir to, and representative of, the GAR.
Travel to battlefields without leaving your home. This website by History Remembered friend Steve Hawks, is a comprehensive look at monuments and historical markers on a number of battlefields.
One of, if not the most complete regimental histories of the Civil War. Friend Steve Soper has compiled his decades of research into the Third Michigan Infantry into this great website. Steve has also published a book on the Third.
Fort Wayne is located in the city of Detroit, Michigan, at the foot of Livernois Avenue in the Delray neighborhood. The fort is situated on the Detroit River at a point where it is about a mile to the Canadian shore. The original 1848 limestone barracks (with later brick additions) still stands, as does the 1845 star fortification (renovated in 1863 with brick exterior facing). On the fort grounds but outside the original star fort are additional barracks, officers quarters, hospital, shops, recreation building, commissary, guard house, garage, and stables.
The Coalition is a volunteer group of extremely dedicated volunteers who spend a considerable time working to improve the fort and to share the history of the fort through living history events.
The Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Hall is a magnificent building, known affectionately as “The Castle” in Detroit at Grand River and Cass. Once the home to several G.A.R. Posts, the Michigan Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, this building, dedicated in 1901, was recently restored by Mindfield, USA for several million dollars.