Every week we publish a historic photo highlighting a story from Naperville’s past from the archives of Naper Settlement.
The Grand Army of the Republic, known as the GAR, was an early political advocacy group created shortly after the Civil War by Benjamin F. Stephenson in downstate Decatur.
In today’s The Way We Were photo, we see the members of the Naperville GAR’s Walter Blanchard Post 386 as they looked on Memorial Day 1887.
The GAR advocated for Black veterans’ right to vote, veteran pensions, patriotic education and the creation of Memorial Day as a national holiday.
When the annual observance became law in 1868, GAR posts were committed to using May 30 to remember those killed in action, missing in action or deceased.
The Naperville post was mustered in Scott’s Hall on Jan. 7, 1884. The post was named for Capt. Walter Blanchard, a Downers Grove native who had a law office in Naperville and served as a judge. He was injured by artillery fire at Ringold Gap, Georgia, on Nov. 27, 1863, and died Dec. 4.
Blanchard helped organize Company K of the 13th Illinois Infantry, serving as its captain despite being 54 at the start of the war.
In its 1884 Rules, Regulations and By-Laws, the post listed three objectives.
The first was “to strengthen those kind and fraternal feelings which bind together the soldiers, sailors and marines who united to suppress the late rebellion, and to perpetuate the memory and history of the dead.”
The second was “to assist such former comrades in arms as need help and protection; and to extend needful aid to the widows and orphans of those who have fallen.”
And the third was “to maintain true allegiance to the United States of America, based upon a paramount respect for, and fidelity to the National Constitution and laws; to discountenance whatever tends to waken disloyalty, incites to insurrection, treason or rebellion, or in any manner impairs the efficiency and permanency of our free institutions; and to encourage the spread of universal liberty, equal rights and justice to all men.”
Members needed to have received an honorable discharge after serving for the North during the Civil War between April 1861 and December 1865. Confederate Army soldiers were banned.
A committee reviewed the applications and made recommendations to the larger group for approval. A two-thirds vote of present members could award membership without the standard $2 fee. Annual dues were $1.
Over the years, 108 men were listed on post rosters. The last was Lewis M. Rich, who died in 1943 at age 98.
The post had a committee designated to visit people when they were sick and to take care of needs within Naperville’s veteran community.
The GAR, which has a monument in Naperville Cemetery, managed Naperville’s Memorial Day services and parades until the early 20th century, when American Legion Post 43 assumed the responsibility. Today, it is jointly organized by the American Legion and VFW Post 3873.
GAR membership waned in the late 1870s, but a renewed vision for the group caused significant growth in the 1880s. Membership peaked in 1890 with almost 410,000 members and more than 7,000 posts nationwide.
The last GAR member died in 1956, ending the national organization.
Andrea Field is curator of history at Naper Settlement. For more information, go to www.NaperSettlement.org
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.Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.