Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-08-02


last living man of the more
than 2 million who wore the
Federal blue in 1876. The
GAR has long since become the
symbol of the Union veteran;
it is proper that simultaneous
taps should sound for them.
Today's generation saw the
Grand Army as old men, theil
individual feebleness increasing
as their collective number dwin.
died. They were respected fig.
ures as they rode in cars at the
head of Memorial Day parade!
or sat in the detached Loneliness
of age on ceremonial platforms
Save for the haloS bestowed BY
history and grandfathers' tales
there was no vestige of the vigoi
and valor of their youth.
Stirs Imagination
In that youth, they hac
marched and fought in a wal
that even today exercises a pc.
culiar and undying hold on the
American imagination. They haC
been part of a great host. Ii
1865, at the grand review il
Washington, soldiers going home
from the war paraded on Penn.
sylvania avenue, so men abreast
for six hours one day and TO,
seven the next. That flood O.
men constituted less than one.
fifth of those under arms for tn
Union.
The voting power of such {
multitude was not overlooked BY
the Nations politicians. Mo-
were the veterans themselve.
unaware of it. 1t had been thrust
to their attention during the wal
by the many ways in which theil
favors at the ballot box haC
been sought. perhaps most not.
ably by the ease by which home
furloughs were obtainable around
election time. An Indiana boy
wrote home that Indiana sol.
diers seem to be sickly," noting
that 5000 of them had gont
home to vote in 1863 under g
War Department order to fur.
Tough the i'll.
When the boys came home
they were cheered. paraded
dined, wined and feted. The un.
dying gratitude of their Nation
their States and their communi.
ties was pledged to them. Tit
eX-soldiers. 100000 of them dof.
lf1ng uniforms every month, were
not long in discovering that un.
dying gratitude would not pa,
grocery bills.
Employment Problem
Jobs were hard to get. 81
many jobleSs veterans wer,
roaming the streets that fears o
a crime wave we're voiced. Tn,
veterans retorted that employer
were. discriminating againS
them. THE numbers of cripple'
added to the problem $4,000
men, North and South, cam
home minus arms and legs.
! In such troubled circum
stances. the veterans were in re
ceptive mood when politician
reminded them, In union Their
is strength" and urged them t,
organize to fight for their collec
tive good. In the 1866 election
campaign. veterans organization
were a dime a dozen. Most O
them died out in a few years
after the first flush of enthu
SiaSm wore off. The GAR. sur,
vived.
The Grand Army wasn't in.
tended to be a political unit
DR.. B. F. Stephenson, former
surgeon of Illinois infantry whC
is honored as the founder, il
supposed to have envisoned {
great brotherhood of former
soldiers. bonded together by mu.
tual affections and memories
1t didn't turn out that way.
Merely Obstetrician"
Mary r. bearing concluded il
her recent book, Veterans il
Politics, that DR.. Stephenson
was merely the obstetriciar
who presided a the delivery Of
the Grand Army of the Repub.
lie from the womb of Illinois pol.
itics."
Behind DR.. Stephenson, pro-
noting the G. A. r. to further
their personal ambitions, were
Gov. Richard j. Oglesby of Illi-
nois. and Gen. John A. Logan
former corps commander in the
Western armies.
Fostered by politicians in Other
States as in Illinois, the Grand
Army in its early years was lit.
tie more than an instrument Of
the Republican Party. Gen. Lo-
gan had cause to report to the
Republican National Committee
The organization of the GAR
has been and is being run in the
interests of the Republican
Party"
The Democrats were in the
business o forganizing veterans
too-and they had some success
but they could not offer a mil
itary hero like U. S. Grant as a
rallying point. and the back
ground influences of the war
tended to throw the former SOL
diers into Republican arms
Vote as you shot," was a
watchword.
Many Alienated
The CARS violently partisan
political capers alienated as
many veterans as they attracted.
Moreover, its status with the
general public became suspect:
There were rumors that it was
a secret political society plotting
to take owe rthe Government.
This rumor was not quieted by
the weird mumbo Jumbo OF