Retired Temple Professor Andy Waskie spoke to the group in March about the long history of the GAR - Grand Army of the Republic. The premier veterans organization which formed following the end of the Civil War.
Open to any honorably discharged CW vet (without regard to race), this organization first sprang up in Illinois, and quickly thereafter in many states and regions.
Philadelphia alone had 36 groups, of which #1 was named for George Meade.
Waskie spoke of the influence of the GAR on monuments placement at Gettysburg; the institution of “Decoration Day” - now Memorial Day; the Pledge of Alliance, the National Anthem, and monuments through Philagelphia and across the country.
Claire updates us on the June 10th rip to Monocacy Battlefield and the Museum of Civil War Medicine and also announced a trip to Evergreen Cemetery on October 7th.
As usual, we also held our preservation book raffle - Winners shown below.
