The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-09-06
c. A. R. TO meet
Annual Encampment at Des
Moines Late This Month.
Fewer Than $4,000 ''BOys in
Blue" Are Alive Today.

Des Moines, Ia, Sept. 6.-The fifty
sixth national encampment of the
Grand Army OF the Republic will be
held here during the week beginning
September "a.
Aging veterans of '61, their ranks
greatly diminished by death. will
gather with their comrades for the
fifty-sixth time since ending their ser
vices in the Union armies.
Tales of famous battles. charges at
Gettysburg, Sherman's march to the
sea, privations and sufferings which
ended with the surrender of Lee at
Appomattox, will be recalled and told
with an enthusiasm which has in
creased at each annual encampment-
Less than $4,000 of the boys in
blue" are alive today. Their numbers,
running into hundreds of thousands
shortly after the close of the Civil
War. have been thinned with increas-
ing rapidity by the advance of time.
Within a few years the Army Of the
Potomac will be but a memory.
Open Sunday, Sept "a.
The encampment will open Sunday,
September "a, with special services in
the Des Moines churches where vet
Grams viii be speakers. Monday will
be registration day and the time for
the exchange of greetings.
Regimental and brigade reunions
will be held Tuesday followed by re-
ceptions by auxiliary associations at
the governors parlors, in the state
house.
The parade will be held Wednesday
morning. A school children's program
will be given on the grounds of the
capitol that afternoon and the great
camp fire will be held that evening
in the colosseum.
- Business of the encampment will
occupy the attention of the veterans
Thursday morning and afternoon and
ficers will be held Friday, the last
day of the encampment.S
G. A. r. Ranks Grow Thinner.
Indianapolis, Ind, Sept. 6.-Fifty-
six years ago a small group of young
men, veterans of the Civil War. were
banded together by DR.. Benjamin F.
Stevenson of Decatur. Ill. After or
ganizing, the name bestowed upon the
body was The Grand Army of the Re-
public
Organization began April 6. 1866.
and the first National encampment
was held in indianapolis beginning
November 20 of the same year. There
are no authentic records to give the
attendance at that meeting, out of
which grew one of the most powerful
and influential bodies ever welded to-
gether in the United States. 1t must
have been small. however, for one of
the first theaters in Indianapolis was
used for the meeting place, and it held
only a few hundred persons.
Membership campaigns by the
Grand Army of the Republic con-
tinued from year to year, but an Off
cial record of the membership is avail
able only SO far back as 1878, when it
was given as 31,016. 1t was about
tn s time that the men who had fought
and won a great war began to make
their presence felt in all matters per-
tanning to the advancement of the
country and as a result the G. A. r.
increased in membership strength by
many thousands.
Reached Nearly Half Million.
The crest of the strength of the or
ganization was reached in 1889 and
1890, when 409,4S9 were reported in
good standing. The peak was reached
at that time as figures given at the
encampment the following year
showed a loss of approximately two
thousand.
Death has caused a great furrow in
the ranks of the old soldiers yearly
since that time. until at present there
are fewer than $4,000 of the boys in
blue left. What few remain. how
ever, are planning, according to ma
tional officers, to have a goodly rep
resentation present at the fifty-sixth
national encampment to be held al
Bes Moines, September "a to 29.