Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1900-02-28

serving Dr0tner, seeking 10 perpetuate
the brotherly feeling engenderedof com
mon hardships and perils. the Doctor
saw in his mind the long lines of veter-
ans marching together, shoulder to
shoulder, in peace as in war.
An idea SO born could not fail to GER
INMATE. The grand parade and review
Of Grants and Shermans armies in
Washington following the declaration
Of peace had scarcely passed away I'M
til DR.. Stephenson began the active
work of creating grand army of pence.
In March, 1866, DR.. Stephenson and Mr..
Rutledge renewed their discussions
with the purpose Of putting their ideas
into execution. In the preceding month
Fred l. Dean was called in and the
topic talked over with him. He pre-
pared rough notes outlining the scope
and purposes of the organization and
a conference of the charter members of
the department of Illinois was held in
Springfield IN March.
At that conference the following men,
later prominent in the army, were pres
ent: Col. j. NJ. Snyder, DR.. James
Hamilton, Maj. r. NJ. Woods, Maj. Rob-
ert Allen, Chaplain Rutledge, Col. Mar
tin Flood, Col. Daniel Grass, Col. Ed
ward Prince, Capt. ]. S. Phelps. Capt.
j. A. Lightfoot, Capt. B. f. Smith, Maj.
A. A. North, Capt. II. e. Howe, Lieut..
B. F. Hawkes. and DR.. Stephenson. The
conference decided to present the mat
ter to Gov. Oglesby and the Governor
heartily approved the project. The
name was suggested by some literature
received concerning similar organi-
cation being discussed in Missouri un.
der the title of the Grand Army of
Progress.
In order to maintain secrecy 1t was
decided to send the copy of the consti-
tuition and bylaws to Decatur for print.
ing. l. N. Coltrin and Joseph Prior, of
the Tribune, were thus made aware of
the movement. Both were discharged
volunteers and both took strong inter-
est in the project. DR.. j. W. Routh
and Capt. NJ. F. Kanan. of Decatur.
having been Informed of the plans.
went to Springfield, where they dis
cussed 1t with DR.. Stephenson. They
returned and organized the first post
and then desired DR.. Stephenson. pro.
visional department commander, to in
stitute the post.
The First Post.
This was done on the evening of April
6. 1866, with the following charter
members: NJ. h. Kanan. George Il.
Steele, George II. Dunning, l. q. Pugh,
j. IL. Male, j. I. Bishop, c. Reibsame,
j. w. Routh, B. r. Sibley, l. N. Coltrin.
Joseph Prior and A. Toland. Comman-
der Stephenson issued his first general
order instituting this post and the
Grand Army of the Republic was born.
Then district and post officers were
elected and new posts instituted. The
second was created in Springfield. but
other cities and towns claimed the hon
or, so that in few weeks the depart
ment of Illinois had some twenty-eight
posts scattered about the State.
Commander Stephenson named Cap
tains Kanan and Dunning MS commit.
tee to prepare ritual, constitution and
bylaws. The order was made April
IS and the committee lost no time, for
the ritual was presented and accepted
on May 8 by the department. The con-
stitution was presented and adopted
on May 10. The rules and ritual thus
adopted remained those of the Grand
Army until notified by the national en-.
campment in May, 1862 when the rt.
ual and rules that obtain to-day, with
such notifications as the lapse of time
have called for, were adopted.
With nearly thirty posts In working
order and regulations approved by all