Grand Old Army of the Republic, Graceland Cemetery, 1905

Here is a great series of photos taken by the Chicago Daily News, and found in the American Memories Collection at the Library of Congress. They show members of the Grand Army of the Republic at Graceland Cemetery on Memorial Day, 1905. (Click on each image for an expanded view.)



The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army who had served in the American Civil War. The GAR was among the first organized interest groups in American politics. It was succeeded by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW).

History

The GAR was founded by Benjamin F. Stephenson, M.D., on April 6, 1866, in Decatur, Illinois. Its organization was based partly on the traditions of Freemasonry, and partly on military tradition; it was divided into "Departments" at the state level and "Posts" at the community level, and military-style uniforms were worn by its members. There were posts in every state in the U.S., and several posts overseas.

The organization wielded considerable political clout nationwide. Between 1868 and 1908, no Republican was nominated to the presidency without a GAR endorsement. In 1868, General Order #11 of the GAR called for May 30 to be designated as a day of memorial for Union veterans; originally called "Decoration Day," this later evolved into the U.S. national Memorial Day holiday. The GAR was also active in pension legislation, establishing retirement homes for soldiers, and many other areas which concerned Union veterans. The influence of the GAR led to the creation of the Old Soldiers' Homes of the late 19th century, which evolved into the current United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

The GAR created the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) in 1881 to ensure the preservation of their own mission after Union war veterans had all died. The GAR also generated several auxiliary organizations such as the National Woman's Relief Corps, Ladies of the GAR, and Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865, many of which are still active. A comparable organization for Confederate veterans was the United Confederate Veterans.

There was some controversy over the fact that the membership badge of the GAR closely resembled the Army's version of the Medal of Honor, causing confusion and animosity among veterans. The issue was resolved with a re-design of the latter in 1896.

The GAR reached its largest enrollment in 1890, with 490,000 members. It held an annual "National Encampment" every year from 1866 to 1949. In 1956, after the death of the last member, Albert Woolson, the GAR was formally dissolved. Its records went to the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., and its badges, flags, and official seal went to the Smithsonian Institution.

Text Courtesy Wikipedia

Graceland (1916)
by Carl Sandburg

Uptown-area resident Carl Sandburg lived at 4646 N. Hermitage, and it was in this house that he penned the famous Chicago Poems, from where this selection is taken. Sandburg was a bit critical of the money wasted on the lavish tombs of Graceland and of their upkeep.

TOMB of a millionaire,
A multi-millionaire, ladies and gentlemen,
Place of the dead where they spend every year
The usury of twenty-five thousand dollars
For upkeep and flowers
To keep fresh the memory of the dead.
The merchant prince gone to dust
Commanded in his written will
Over the signed name of his last testament
Twenty-five thousand dollars be set aside
For roses, lilacs, hydrangeas, tulips,
For perfume and color, sweetness of remembrance
Around his last long home.

(A hundred cash girls want nickels to go to the movies to-night.
In the back stalls of a hundred saloons, women are at tables
Drinking with men or waiting for men jingling loose
silver dollars in their pockets.
In a hundred furnished rooms is a girl who sells silk or
dress goods or leather stuff for six dollars a week wages
And when she pulls on her stockings in the morning she
is reckless about God and the newspapers and the
police, the talk of her home town or the name
people call her.)

Ghost Busted?

UPTOWN'S GRACELAND CEMETERY | If you're hankering for the truth behind a legendary Chicago haunting—have I got a story for you.

October 26, 2007

If you want to be spooked, Chicago's your town.

We've got the phantoms of Fort Dearborn, the spirits of Montrose Point and ol' Resurrection Mary, the ghostly hitchhiker who supposedly stalks Archer Avenue.

Clarence Darrow's ghost is said to show up at a bridge near the Museum of Science and Industry. The owner of the Red Lion Pub, Joseph Heinen, swears he's heard footsteps and a woman screaming, "Help me," on the Lincoln Park tavern's second floor. And there's plenty more ghost stories to go around.

In fact, I'm almost convinced something supernatural locked my cat in the upstairs bathroom with a bag of sea shells the night I moved in to my house in Pullman.

How much you believe any of that is really up to you. But if you're hankering for the truth behind a legendary Chicago haunting—have I got a story for you.

It starts, of course, on a dark and stormy night, Aug. 1, 1880...

See Complete Story at Chicago Sun-Times.

Local Tour Guide Gets a Great Mention in TimeOut

I took Al Walavich's tour of Uptown a few years ago. He knows more about the history of this neighborhood than almost anyone else I've met. He lives around the corner from the Uptown Theatre in a house his family has owned for a long time. The Uptown's artisans used the family's garage as a place to mold and create the decorative plaster for the theatre during construction, building a new garage for them when the job was done.

TimeOut Chicago gave him a great mention this week as one of three "unboring" city tour guides. I urge everyone to go on one of his tours if they get the chance.

Al Walavich

Tours
Chicago Neighborhood Tours and Chicago History Museum Tours

Alter ego
None—Walavich is a master of the art of tour guiding.

How they got their starts
Walavich’s grandmother believed they should visit deceased family members on Memorial Day, so young Al made an annual pilgrimage to six graveyards. Years later, he started giving Graceland Cemetery tours as a fund-raiser for Uptown Historical Society.

Why you’ll love each tour de force
With 25 years of tour experience, there’s nothing this man doesn’t know about the Windy City. He gives tours on the Great Fire, Devil in the White City, literary Chicago, the North Side, Chicago highlights, lake history...

Favorite sites
Little-known monuments in Graceland: the graves of John Dickey, the city’s first firefighter to die in the line of duty, and John Huck, the last person to die in the Great Fire and the father-in-law of Marshall Field’s daughter.

Best lines
“I’m a disgusting ham who can’t control myself! I love sharing things!”

How tourists react
Each year, 300 to 400 people vie for his tours, including repeat customers who’ve been loyal for seven years.

Catch their tour
Walavich will give five Graceland tours (his specialty) on October 27, 28 and 31. For tickets, go to www.chicagohs.org.