Kindling the Fires of Patriotism: The Grand Army of the Republic, Department of Indiana, 1866-1949

Abstract

Following the end of the American Civil War in 1865, thousands of Union veterans joined the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), the largest Union veterans' fraternal organization in the United States. Upwards of 25,000 Hoosier veterans were members in the Department of Indiana by 1890, including President Benjamin Harrison and General Lew Wallace. This thesis argues that Indiana GAR members met in fraternity to share and construct memories of the Civil War that helped make sense of the past and the present. Indiana GAR members took it upon themselves after the war to act as gatekeepers of Civil War memory in the Hoosier state, publicly arguing that important values they acquired through armed conflict—obedience to authority, duty, selflessness, honor, and love of country—were losing relevance in an increasingly industrialized society that seemingly valued selfishness, materialism, and political radicalism. This thesis explores the creation of Civil War memories and GAR identity, the historical origins of Memorial Day in Indiana, and the Indiana GAR's struggle to incorporate ideals of "patriotic instruction" in public school history classrooms throughout the state.