Previous Artifacts - January 2008

Grand Army of the Republic
National Encampment 1903

 

The Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) a Civil War veterans’ organization held annual regional, state, and national encampments which brought members together for a weekend/week of business and comradery. The encampments were major social occasions which often included speakers, bands, dances, races, and baseball games. Similar to professional conferences today, the encampments held business meetings where politics and other topics of national interest were discussed and acted upon. Encampments were open to G.A.R. members and their families, including women   and   children.    Auxiliary groups,   such as the Women’s Relief Corps, were also represented at encampments. 

 

National encampments were large gatherings over many days, often lasting over a week. G.A.R. members who attended represented their local posts and their states. During the encampment, the men also had regimental and infantry reunions, gathering together companies of men who had fought side-by-side in the Civil War. National meetings rotated across the United States.

 

These artifacts are from the Grand Army of the Republic's national encampment in San Francisco in 1903. The mess kit is stamped with the G.A.R. logo and the dates of the encampment. The ribbon is one that a South Dakota Delegate to the conference would have worn to identify himself as being from South Dakota.

 

Come see these artifacts in the new exhibit at the Old Courthouse Museum: BOYS IN BLUE-- The Grand Army of the Republic: A Civil War Veterans’ Organization.