The National tribune., 1883-03-08
BORN TO GREATNESS,
The Story of the Origin of the Grand
Army.
[From The Grand Arrny Magasine.I


The secret organization known as the Grand
Army of the Republic is made up entirely OF
men who served in the army, navy, and marine
corps of the United States between April u,
1861, and April g. 1865, having been hOnOrably
discharged after such service. The period men
toned witnessed the progress of the great civil
war, prosecuted on the part of the Federal Gov
ernment to preserve the Union of States re-
sulting from the success of the American Revo-
luton. During our struggle for National eX-
istence three millions of men were marshalled
into service on the Union side. Nearly one
half million lost their lives, and fully three
hundred and fifty thousand were by reason of
wounds MANNED for life. This magnificent
host was the Grand Army of the Republic,
armed and equipped in defense of a cause which
it believed etcrnally just and right.
It's devotion to this cause perpetuated the
Union of States and upheld through devasta-
ting strife the integrity of the American Re-
public. When it had gained its last victory
and ended the war in 1865 it was disbanded.
Its members, returning to the homes they had
been separated from so long, took up at once
their civil avocations, becoming bread winners
for families and producers for the Nation. But
influences were operating constantly among
the citizen soldiers, doubt set at work by the
recollectiOns of the proverb, that Republics
are ungrateful to their veterans" and i'll time
the remnant of the Grand Army reasSemeled,
this time in peaceful columns, to fight unit
edly the battle of life, to care for the widow
and orphans of comrades gone beyond, and to
preserve the history and memories Of all our
heroic dead
1t is probably impossible to prove absolutely
where the idea of this organization first sug
gested itself; however, the following account
of its origin, published in the Jacksonville
Qll) Duly Journal, is stamped not only with
plausibility, but evident sincerity, and the mar
g
this article is constrained to reproduce it.
The following incident regarding the OrganiZa-
ton of the Grand Army of the Republic will be
read with interest by many in our city and mem
bers of the organization elsewhere. The credit Is
due to the brains of two Morgan county soldiers,
Chaplain William J. Rutledge, who conceived it,
and Major B. +. Stevenson, who pushed forward
the idea to a successful termination.
February 1, 1854 some 5000 brave men under
General sherman left Vicilsburg and vicinity ON
what was then called the Meridian Raid, as Me-
ridan and Enterprise were almost the extreme
eastern points from which the return march was
ulade to Nicksburg. But for the failure of General
Smith to rc-enforce the command with cavalry
from Memphis, they would have gone southwark
to Mobile, thus anticipating the experiment OF the
Grand March to the Sea.
While they tarried two nights and day at
this eastern end of the raid, awaiting General
Smith and breaking up some railroad tracks, most
of the baggage train and provisions had been left
some twenty miles west under guard, that they
might be less encumbered in the final conflict with
General Polk force, thinking he would not tanely
yield to destruction these important railroad con-
nectons But AS his fighting for a'fortnight avaed
him nothing, he retreated beyond their reach.
Having accomplished an important work by the
raid, they started back via Canton, Mississippi to-
wards ViclIsburg. The first days march brought
them to the train and provisions, over which they
We're the more Jubilant rs they had been without
coffee for tlfree days. Then they uuwiSely under
took to make up for lost time by drinking
of hot strong coffee, and never until then was
its full effects stimulant made known to many.
Sleep was banshed for that night and as there
probably no rebel force to be feared within fifty
milo wi
neighed, and crowed all along the line. The
gravest officers were not exempt from this coffee
cxhileraion and bursts of laughter here and there
indicated that the wag or wit of that squad was
perpetrating his best jokes. Even the staid hos
pital mess, with no sick to care for fell into the
same ncrveless, sleepless current. Though speak
ing especially for the Fourteenth regiment Illinois
volunteer infantry. this vigil probably kept by
most of the Fourth division OF the Seventeenth
Army Corps.
But to return. There was William J. Rutledge,
reginental chaplain Major b. +. Stevenson, sur
geon; DIR. Chatfee, assistant surgeon; Joseph
Meacham, hospital steward &c. Each man was
marked character, but we have not time to describe
them now. All were warm personal friends, yet
fond of joking each other. DIR. Stevenson, pro-
| voked by this seeplessncsS began to moralize on
the glory of war being humbug; as man may
sometimes be left by his comrades TO die ON the
| bloody field, unwept unhonored, and unsung, and
II transferred to Paradise he must be greatly cha
grined TO see his name misspeed in the reports
leaving his friends in doubt to whether it was he
or some other man." The chaplain, always buoy
ant in spirits and fruitful in resource, replied,
had no battle yet where all were killed on both
sides; some escape to tell about it, VIII be
| has been subsoilcd by the plowshare of and
rebellion and slavery turned under so deep that
they will never sprout again, and by our peaceful
| freSideS We'll Shoulder crutch and show how
fields were won.
Moreover" continued the chaplain, "as knight
errantry and masonry were wonderfully revived
during the wars of the CruSadcs in the years
! that lie beyond will revive them by organizing
fratcTnal basis the Grand Army of the Republic.
You, Doctor, shall be grand mOgul or commander
in-chlef; DIR. Chaffec, your adJutant general ;
MeIcham. your c-de-cImp; Scott, your pay
master; Goldsmith, your inside sentinel; sam Lo-
gan, your VIdettc. and your chaplain Beng now
organized under this venerable oak, that may have
sheltered Indians, Aztccs DrudS centuries ago,
we will after due examination proceed to collect the
! initiation fee and admit the brethren, swearing
| them to liberty, equality, and sympathy with the
under dog in the fight Thus shall we insure a
! ders' reunion every full moon. We shall bind to-
| gether brotherhood who were previously united
in the fellowship of suffering and as some doubt
less will deserve pensions who will fail IN obtain
ing them, we can supply this lack by our volun-
! tary contributors"
| Thus with suggestions, humorous or earnest, the
/ night wore on the morning; dawned and the march
| was resumed. DR.. Stevenson, though not Imagina-
tive and inventive like the chaplain, was mcthOdi
| cal and a born organizer. The chaplain had built
this castle i'll the air the pleasant paStlme of a
sleepeSs night. The doctor brought that castle to
| the ground made moat and dTawbridge for it, COM
nlissioned its officers, mounted its sentineS, and
manned 1t before his death with lOOO0 men. To
| the chaplain it one of the beautiful myths
| plowing through his brain; to the doctor it was
Il ghost that would not down" at his bidding.
| These two though very dissimilar men, We're
agreed i'll regard to the projected organization in
| all save this The doctor wanted to give it a de-
cdcd political tinge, claiming that those who had
| borne the burden alone should have the benefit,
| but the chaplain of the old Fourteenth discarded
| the machine idea, insisting that the trdterHdt
and 6enOCeleHt one best to insure usefulness and
| perpetuify.
Ardent as the doctor was about this new ideal, it
was not till the spring of 1866 that he having
moved from Jacksonville to Springfield, H. tele-
| graphed the chaplain (who was then stationed in
| Bloomington for a special interview. So the doc
tor the chaplain, Colonel John NJ. Snyder, and
| Colonel A. Weber, read and corrected the proof
( sheets of the Constitution and Bylaws of the
Grand Army of the Republic, and the first Post y
| was organized in Springfield, near the home and
tomb of Lincoln, whence it soon spread through
| Illinois and into other States.
! DIR. Stevenson remained the first Commander-in-
Chief up to the first general rally held in the Rep
| resentatives Hall of the old State House. 1t was
| with great hestancy, then, that the committee,
! doctor, requested him. i'll seconding General LO-
| gan'S nomination, to award To the doctor all the
credit due him, which he did in brief but earnest
| speech that will long bc remembered by those who
| heard it. The doctor somewhat grleyed at
| being superseded i'll the general command, but he
| was deeply moved by the chapllin's reference to
the memories of the Mississippi forest and IN reply
said that the chaplain gave him more credit than
was due; for il the chaplain himself who had
! originated the idea and aided and encouraged him
| in pushing it to its cons.imnIation.
Thus the Grand Army of the Republic that first
fitted rs IL phantom through the forests OF MsSis-
| spp now marshals its hosts and keeps step to the
music OF the Union.
All that We know of the origin of the organs
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