The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1917-05-25
HOW GRANDARMY
CAME into BEING
tamous Organization Had Its In
ception Before the Close Of
the Civil War.
GATHERED PATRIOTS IN FOLD
10 lncuIcate Loyalty to the Nation
which They Saved, and the Uphold
Inc Of Its Institutions, the
Foundation Stone Of the
Great Order.

"HE earliest reliable written rec
ords of the Grand Army Of the
Republic were consumed at Bos-
ton during the great cOnfiagra-
tion ON Memorial day, 1873. Fortunate
h, however, although the early pre-
nminary history is lost to the coun-
try, enough Of printed and written rec
erds in other locations was found to
enable the historians Of the G.. A. r.
% piece out the interesting story of
Ia birth.
In the quaint old hall of records at
the national G. A. r. headquarters in
Independence square, Philadelphia,
the original minute-book Of the nation
nj encampments, beginning with the
Soldiers and Sailors convention at
Pittsburgh, September %. 1866, may
be seen carefully preserved among 9TH
or historic G. A. r. literature.
It is heavy sheepskin folio in good
condition. of 7S0 pages, of which 1853
are written upon. The minutes cover
the story Of the national encampments
for the first six years, from 1867 to
1872. after which the proceedings were
printed. These records and others of
the departments contain the history OF
the Grand Army organization after 1t
became an embodied fact. There is,
however, because of the lost records
. nebulous atmosphere about the
movements leading up to its forma-
tiOn. But the organization, 1t is clear
Iy known, is the evolution Of the active
political and social movements among
the soldiers in the II months succeed
fng the close of the war.
TT SEEMS a far cry from the mod
1 ern era of prosperous commercial
and Industrial peace in the United
States back to the troubled days of
GO and SO, "when Johnny came march
ing home"
The discharged soldiers came back
to meet and conquer with soldiers
courage a difficulty more complex and
intangible than that of fighting an en-
emy--the problem Of his own read
justment of the workaday world which
he had left.
Previous to the war the general
feeling had prevailed, as voiced by
Gov. John A. Andrews, speaking Of
the people of Massachusetts, that the
family of every man who enlisted
should be fully provided for. The re-
turn Of the soldier in health made 1t
possible for him to resume RESPONSE
biIity. All he needed was an oppor-
tunity.
THE sentiment of patriotic support
! ers of the army was that the men
who had given up their chance Of
advancement at home and of support
ing their families in the many avenues
of trade and commerce stimulated by
the war who had returned with good
record of service, wounded or disa-
bled. should be entitled to considera-
ton in the distribution of Offices I'M
der the local, state and national gov
eminent. Places of honor and profit,
1t was held, should be given to the
veterans whose services and sacrifices
had been so great. But politicians in
trenched in Office were not willing to
retire I'm favor of the army men; con-
sequently clubs and societies Of sol
diers and their supporters for the pro-
motion of their candidacy for positions
of trust and emolument sprang up
n
host Of organizations, among them the
Boys in Blue, Soldiers and Sailors
league, Conservative Army and Navy
Union, White Boys In Blue, ColOred
Soldiers league-a vast mass of varied
tinted bodies of assorted minds, who
were destined to form the nucleus for
Che all-embraclng G. A. r.
THE idea Of the organization Of the
] Grand Army of the Republic was
really conceived, however, before the
close of the war. The signer OF the
first general order, calling the first
encampment In Indianapolis, Novem-
her 20. 1886, carefully preserved In
the venerable general order book In
the Hall of Records at Philadelphia,
was Maj. Benjamin Franklin Stephen
son: provisional commander In chief
In 1860 and the founder Of the Grand
Army Of the Republic.
Major Stephenson was a native Of
Wayne county. Illinois, where he was
born In 1922. Reared In poverty, but
managing to wrest an education from
difficult conditions, he. entered the
medical profession, graduating from
Rush Medical college, Chicago, In 1851,
and practicing in Petersburg, I'll. He
enlisted and served three years as sur
geon of the Fourteenth Illinois in
fantry and Immediately after the war
he resumed the practice of his profess
sion, locating at Springfield, Ill. Major
Stephenson during the war was close
~ associated with Chaplain William
Rutledge. virginian by birth, a resi-
dent of Illinois and Methodist preachs
err, who was his terminate and bosom
companion.
3ssi f8