Grand Army of the Republic

On April 6, 1866, Dr. Benjamin Franklin Stephenson founded a fraternal organization limited to honorably discharged veterans of the Civil War. They had to have served between April 12, 1861 and April 9, 1865 in the Union Army, Navy, Marines Corps or Revenue Cutter Service to qualify. Dr. Stephenson called the organization, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR).

By 1890, there were more than 490,000 veterans in the organization. Because membership was limited to veterans, the GAR ceased to exist when the last member died in 1956. During its existence, the GAR was aided in its work by five organizations, which are today referred to as the Allied Orders and includes our own Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865 (DUVCW). Eligibility for membership in the DUVCW is based on the eligibility as formerly required for membership in the GAR.

Only five Allied Orders were recognized by the Veterans of the GAR as their official successors, and all five are still active:

Woman’s Relief Corps
founded in 1883

Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic
founded in 1886

Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865
founded in 1885

Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
founded in 1881

Auxiliary to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
founded in 1883