This handcrafted, stone column stands in Grove Hill Cemetery, in Morrison, IL, on the edge of E. High Street. It and a companion Oak tree were dedicated by the [Morrison] Woman’s Relief Corps, No. 60, in 1929, “in loyal memory of Alpheus Clark Post No. 118, Grand Army of the Republic. Listed are 162 members of the Grand Army of the Republic (from the Civil War) and 21 Spanish American War veterans.
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), and Marines who served in the American Civil War. It was founded in 1866 in Decatur, IL, and grew to include thousands of “posts” (local community units) across the North and West. It was dissolved in 1956 at the death of its last member, Albert Woolson.
According to Stuart McConnell, the Grand Army of the Republic–the largest of all Union Army veterans’ organizations–was the most-powerful, single-issue political lobby of the late 19th century, securing massive pensions for veterans, and helping to elect five postwar Presidents from its own membership. To its members, it was also a secret fraternal order, a source of local charity, a provider of entertainment in small municipalities, and a patriotic organization.
Linking men through their experience of the American Civil War, the GAR became among the first organized advocacy groups in American politics. Members
• supported voting rights for black veterans
• promoted patriotic education
• helped to make Memorial Day a National holiday
• lobbied Congress to establish regular veterans’ pensions
• supported Republican political candidates.
Its peak membership, at 410,000, was in 1890, a high point of various Civil War commemorative and monument dedication ceremonies.
The black, granite tablet below is in Veterans Park and Memorial, E. High Street, Morrison, adjacent to Grove Hill Cemetery. Listed are updated names of those who served in the Civil War, Spanish American War, and the Philipine Insurrection.
