This item is part of A Fine Collection of American Society & Association Membership Badges. Click Here to view all items in this collection.
In bronze gilt, numbered "M10478" on the edge of the arm at 3 o'clock, measuring 46 mm (w) x 43.5 mm (h), on its American flag style ribbon, suspended from its eagle and crossed cannons over ten cannonballs suspension with pinback, scattered gilt wear, near extremely fine.
Footnote: The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (U.S. Navy), Marines and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War for the Northern/Federal forces. Founded in 1866 in Decatur, Illinois, and growing to include hundreds of posts (local community units) across the nation (predominately in the North, but also a few in the South and West), it was dissolved in 1956 at the death of its last member, Albert Woolson (1850-1956) of Duluth, Minnesota. Linking men through their experience of the war, the GAR became among the first organized advocacy groups in American politics, supporting voting rights for black veterans, promoting patriotic education, helping to make Memorial Day a national holiday, lobbying the United States Congress to establish regular veterans' pensions, and supporting Republican political candidates. Its peak membership, at more than 490,000, was in 1890, a high point of various Civil War commemorative and monument dedication ceremonies. It was succeeded by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), composed of male descendants of Union Army and Union Navy veterans.