Army surgeon Dr. Benjamin Franklin Stephenson, at Decater, Ill. in 1866, founded the Grand Army of the Republic, often referred to as the G.A.R. Membership was limited to honorably discharged veterans of the Union Army, Navy, Marine Corps or the Revenue Cutter Service who served between April 12, 1861 and April 9, 1865.
The Revenue Cutter Service was the equivalent to today's U.S. Coast Guard. Its founding principles included fraternity, charity and loyalty.
Veterans desiring membership to the GAR applied at a local post. Membership approval used the Masonic system of black and white balls for casting votes. If more than one black ball was cast, the candidate was rejected, and it was recorded in the general orders.
All rejections were maintained in a #“black book#” at each post, banning a candidate from joining the organization. All posts adopted the same rituals.
The GAR became a strong political force, becoming involved with the pension lobby to aide soldiers with benefits. Members were active in social work, encampments and founding of soldiers#' homes. By 1890, when at its peak, it had more than 400,000 members.
The final encampment was held in 1949, and the last six surviving members permanently closed the GAR. The last member died in 1956 at 109 years of age.
Today their work is carried out by the many allied orders that formed such as the Sons of Union Veterans and similar groups.
The Woman's Relief Corps (WRC) was the official auxiliary to the GAR and another allied order, the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic (LGAR), is the oldest woman's hereditary society in the United States.
Port Bryan's Lockwood Post No. 175 was chartered July 20, 1880. Its name was in honor of Capt. John W. Lockwood, son of Oliver Lockwood, a shoemaker, and Sophia C King.
Capt. Lockwood was a great grandson of Philip King, the first white settler of Mentz. He enlisted at the age of 18, serving Co. F. 111th NYSV, was wounded at Gettysburg and at the Wilderness. He was promoted to captain in June 1864 and captured at Ream's Station in August 1864. He died from gunshot wounds sustained in an escape attempt from a railroad train in route to Andersonville Prison as a prisoner of war. He is buried on the family plot at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.
The Lockwood Post was very active. They traveled often to neighboring towns for events as well as attended encampments. In the late 1880s, the boys from Port Byron traveled by boat to Montezuma to help decorate veteran graves.
They also chartered the steamer Milton S. Price of Syracuse to attend an event at Wells College in Aurora. Their most lasting contribution would be the installation of the soldier's monument at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery. It was purchased by the Lockwood Post and citizens of Port Byron and was dedicated in 1893. More than 5,000 people and 20 GAR Posts attended the ceremony, and the dignitary list included Gen. William H. Seward of Auburn.
C.A. Davis of Weedsport made the monument. The grand event filled both the Howard House and National Hotel with guests.
The Port Byron cornet band, assisted by the Clyde cornet band and the Jordan Drum Corps, along with 600 veterans, the Port Byron Fire Department, 400 school children and the superintendent of schools marched the parade to dedicate the monument.
The monument continues to be the meeting place on Memorial Day for services to honor our nations veterans at Port Byron.
The Grand Army of the Republic was responsible for May 30 becoming a National Holiday, being Memorial Day.
- Sources: Grand Army Museum & Library http://garmuslib.org/GARhistory.htm, Ladies of the Grand Army http://suvcw.org/LGAR/history.php, “History of Port Byron and Mentz From Indian Tribes to Nineteen Twenty-two” by E.H. Kerns and online newspapers and Internet searches
Dawn Roe is historian for the village of Port Byron. She can be reached at 776-8446 or e-mail beatatune@tds.net
Veterans desiring membership to the GAR applied at a local post. Membership approval used the Masonic system of black and white balls for casting votes. If more than one black ball was cast, the candidate was rejected, and it was recorded in the general orders.
All rejections were maintained in a #“black book#” at each post, banning a candidate from joining the organization. All posts adopted the same rituals.
The GAR became a strong political force, becoming involved with the pension lobby to aide soldiers with benefits. Members were active in social work, encampments and founding of soldiers#' homes. By 1890, when at its peak, it had more than 400,000 members.
The final encampment was held in 1949, and the last six surviving members permanently closed the GAR. The last member died in 1956 at 109 years of age.
Today their work is carried out by the many allied orders that formed such as the Sons of Union Veterans and similar groups.
The Woman's Relief Corps (WRC) was the official auxiliary to the GAR and another allied order, the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic (LGAR), is the oldest woman's hereditary society in the United States.
Port Bryan's Lockwood Post No. 175 was chartered July 20, 1880. Its name was in honor of Capt. John W. Lockwood, son of Oliver Lockwood, a shoemaker, and Sophia C King.
Capt. Lockwood was a great grandson of Philip King, the first white settler of Mentz. He enlisted at the age of 18, serving Co. F. 111th NYSV, was wounded at Gettysburg and at the Wilderness. He was promoted to captain in June 1864 and captured at Ream's Station in August 1864. He died from gunshot wounds sustained in an escape attempt from a railroad train in route to Andersonville Prison as a prisoner of war. He is buried on the family plot at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.
The Lockwood Post was very active. They traveled often to neighboring towns for events as well as attended encampments. In the late 1880s, the boys from Port Byron traveled by boat to Montezuma to help decorate veteran graves.
They also chartered the steamer Milton S. Price of Syracuse to attend an event at Wells College in Aurora. Their most lasting contribution would be the installation of the soldier's monument at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery. It was purchased by the Lockwood Post and citizens of Port Byron and was dedicated in 1893. More than 5,000 people and 20 GAR Posts attended the ceremony, and the dignitary list included Gen. William H. Seward of Auburn.
C.A. Davis of Weedsport made the monument. The grand event filled both the Howard House and National Hotel with guests.
The Port Byron cornet band, assisted by the Clyde cornet band and the Jordan Drum Corps, along with 600 veterans, the Port Byron Fire Department, 400 school children and the superintendent of schools marched the parade to dedicate the monument.
The monument continues to be the meeting place on Memorial Day for services to honor our nations veterans at Port Byron.
The Grand Army of the Republic was responsible for May 30 becoming a National Holiday, being Memorial Day.
- Sources: Grand Army Museum & Library http://garmuslib.org/GARhistory.htm, Ladies of the Grand Army http://suvcw.org/LGAR/history.php, “History of Port Byron and Mentz From Indian Tribes to Nineteen Twenty-two” by E.H. Kerns and online newspapers and Internet searches
Dawn Roe is historian for the village of Port Byron. She can be reached at 776-8446 or e-mail beatatune@tds.net
