Weld County, Colorado

The organization that embraced veterans who had served in the United States on land or sea during the Civil War, 1861 - 1865, was the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.). Its purpose was the cultivation of fraternity, comradeship, and patriotism among Union Veterans. The G.A.R. also exercised a political role and during the late 19th and early 20th century was able to wield considerable influence in state and national politics.

The GAR initially grew and prospered as a de facto political arm of the Republican Party during the heated political contests of the Reconstruction. The commemoration of Union veterans, black and white, immediately became entwined with partisan politics. The league promoted voting rights for black veterans by extolling their demonstrated patriotism. Black veterans, who enthusiastically embraced the message of equality, shunned black veterans' organizations in preference for racially inclusive groups. But when the Republican Party's commitment to reform in the South gradually decreased, the GAR's mission became ill-defined and the organization floundered. The GAR almost disappeared in the early 1870s, and many departments ceased to exist.

Only in the 1880s did the organization revive under new leadership that provided the platform for renewed growth by advocating federal pensions for veterans. As the organization reestablished itself in the South, black veterans there, for the first time, joined in significant numbers and organized local posts.

The GAR was organized into "Departments" at the state level and "Posts" at the community level, and military-style uniforms were worn by its members. There were posts in every state in the U.S., and several posts overseas.

In 1867, Commander-in-Chief General John A. Logan established May 30 as Memorial Day, which was originally intended to commemorate the dead of the Civil War.

The GAR's political power grew during the latter part of the Nineteenth Century and it helped elect several United States Presidents beginning with Ulysses S. Grant and ending with William McKinley. Five members were elected President of the United States, and, for a time, it was impossible to be nominated on the Republican ticket without the endorsement of the GAR voting bloc.

With membership strictly limited to "veterans of the late unpleasantness," the GAR encouraged the formation of Allied Orders to aid them in its various works. Numerous male organizations jousted for the backing of the GAR, and the political battles became quite severe until the GAR finally endorsed the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War as their heir.

The GAR reached its largest enrollment in 1890, with 490,000 members. It held an annual "National Encampment" every year from 1866 to 1949. At that final encampment in Indianapolis, Indiana, the few surviving members voted to retain the existing officers in place until the organization's dissolution; Theodore Penland of Oregon, the GAR's Commander at the time, was therefore its last. In 1956, after the death of the last member, Albert Woolson, the GAR was formally dissolved.

Greeley Post 013 Members

Evans Post 023 Members

There were quite a few other posts in Weld County, these are the only ones I have records for at this time. Everything I have on the G.A.R. is online. I do not have anything else at this time.