Indiana Historical Society - Manuscripts & Archives
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Historical Sketch
Scope and Content Note
Box and Folder Listing
Cataloguing Information
Processed by:
Ellen Swain
23 July 1992
VOLUME OF COLLECTION: 1 manuscript box (.4 linear feet)
COLLECTION DATES: 1889-1901
PROVENANCE: Hazel M. Preston, Indianapolis, IN, July 1992
RESTRICTIONS: None
COPYRIGHT: Held by Indiana Historical Society
ALTERNATE FORMAT: None
OTHER FINDING AIDS: None
RELATED HOLDINGS:
ACCESSION NUMBER: 92.0715
The Grand Army of the Republic, the largest and most influential organization of Civil War Union veterans, was founded April 1866 by Benjamin F. Stephenson, former surgeon of the Fourteenth Illinois Infantry. An oath bound society dedicated to the principles of "fraternity, charity, and loyalty," the G.A.R. was nonpartisan although most members were Republican. The organization fought for pension legislation, maintenance of old soldiers homes, the promotion of patriotism, and the censoring of school books that did not present an orthodox view of the Civil War. In 1890, G.A.R. rolls included 409,489 dues paying members (approximately forty per cent of all Union veterans in the 1890 census). As the years progressed, however, membership declined due to death. In 1949, six of the sixteen remaining members attended the last national encampment (convention) in Indianapolis. The last member died in 1956 at the age of one hundred nine.
Morgan Post #15 was founded on February 21, 1889 in Petersburg, Pike County, Indiana with thirty-three charter members. The Morgan Woman's Relief Corp. #146 served as its auxilary post.
Source: Encyclopedia Americana vol. 13 (Danbury, Conn: Americana Corporation, 1980).
Material found in Collection.
The collection consists of four record books of G.A.R. Morgan Post #15. Two books contain minutes (1889-1892). The third book is a Roll of Deceased Soldiers from the area (1893). A journal of the Morgan Woman's Relief Corp #146 completes the collection.
BOX: Record Books, 1889-1901
FOLDER CONTENTS
1 Minutes, 1889-1890
2 Minutes, 1891-1892
3 Roll of Deceased Soldiers, 1893
4 Morgan Woman's Relief Corp. Journal, 1897-1901
MAIN ENTRY: Grand Army of the Republic. Morgan Post No. 15 (Petersburg, Ind.)
SUBJECT ENTRIES: Woman's Relief Corps (U.S.) Morgan Corps No. 146 (Petersburg, Ind.)
Soldiers--Indiana--Pike County
Veterans--Indiana--Petersburg--Societies, etc.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
Indiana--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
Petersburg (Ind.)--Societies and clubs
Pike County (Ind.)--Societies and clubs
END