The National tribune., 1883-05-24
The Vitality of the Grand Army.


The Vitality of the Grand Army.
In the course of his eloquent speech at the
banquet of the Society of the Army of the
Potomac, General Dudley, after remarking
that such society Reunions, while delight
fully necessary, are incomplete, incompre-
hensiye, and insufficient to satisfy the full
measure of that desire which every true sol
der feels yelling up in his heart, and which
prompts him to seek its expression by some
closer bond of union, gave this glowing
picture of the Grand Army:
1.-THE Grand Army of the Republic, for all the
beneficial and kindly purposes of soldierly COM
panonship, for purposes of fr ernity, and charity
in its ruest and broadest sense for cherishng and
cnshrining the memories of departed comrades, and
holding up to posterity the example which shall
inspire our children and chidrens children to
loyalty and devotion to institutions, is prscti-
cally the only soldier organization broad enough
encircle all who survived the hardships of and
bear the honorable mark of distinction given by the
Nation TO its defenders-an honorable discharge;
accessible to all, and yet general through its de-
partmental and national organizations and being
patterned after the great Republic it saved is rep
resentatiye of ALL"
Every word Of this is true, and General
Dudley might have added that the Grand
Army is the first organization in the history
Of nations that has ever realized such pur-
pose. 1t has never had parallel in this or
any other country, and, what is not little
singular, it is the only National military
order that has inspired general respect and
confidence. Our earliest military society, as
doubtless the readers of THE TRIBUNE
know, was the Society of the Cincinnati, and
it is matter of history that this order, so far
from being regarded with favor by the gen.
of which it was the outgrowth, was looked
upon with positive suspicion. Unlike the
Grand Army, it was organized under con-
stitution which made it selfperpetuating
through the posterity of its members, and
this had so much the appearance of an
attempt to create an aristocracy of birth,
that such statesmen as Franklin and Adams
did not hesitate to denounce it as subversive
of Republican principles Public feeling
ran so high, indeed, that the State of Con-
necticut actually DISTINGUISHED such of its
citizans as had joined the order, and it was
not until after the lapse of several years that
the popular prejudice against it died out
Looking back to that remote period, the
Indignation which the establishment of the
society excited, now seems of course, out of
all proportion to the occasion for it, and, as
matter of fact, the history of the order
has justified none of the apprehensions to
which it gave rise; but it is significant that
while the society still survives and is now
duly respected and honored, it has never
exerted any influence in the affairs of the
country, or accomplished any notable work
The founders of the Grand Army builded
far better. They were wise in limiting
membership to the men who actually par
ticipated in the war for the preservation of
the Union, and making no provision for the
perpetuation of the Order beyond the life of
our veterans, but wiser still in giving to the
organization local as well as National
character. The vitality Of the Order resides
in the Post organization, rather than the
Department or National Encampment, and
the secret of its popularity and usefulness is
the fact that this fills, as General Dudley
pointed out, the measure of the soldiers
desire for fraternity. In the Post shoulder
straps count for nothing, comradeship for
everything, and there is possible degree of
social intimacy as well as the exercise of a
spirit of mutual helpfulness which would
not be practicable in an organization such
as the Cincinnati or any of our army socie-
ties. Therein lies, as we have said, the
strength of the Order, and while the
smaller and non localized organizations
which have grown out of the war will
doubtless henceforth steadily decline in vi
tality, as the members become more and
more widely scattered, and it becomes more
and more difficult for them to attend the
annual Reunions, the Grand Army seems
destined to increase in numbers and infiu-
ence for many years to come. If twenty
years hence there will be, as General Dud-
ley's figures would seem to indicate, three
quarters of million of ex-soldiers still sur