An organization founded in 1866 by
Dr. B.F. Stephenson. It was comprised of Union war
veterans (from the
American Civil War, obviously) whose major platform topic was
war pensions. At some point in time, there were nearly 500,000 members of the
GAR. In 1949, it was permanently closed.
Some of the GAR's major accomplishments:
Established Memorial Day
Elected 5 U.S. Presidents under this organization
Elected several northern governors
Gained 1/5 of the national budget for war pensions.