G.A.R. Post of the Month

January 2020grand army of the republic

Oliver P. Morton Post No. 1
Terre Haute, Indiana (Vigo County)
Organized: 1879 Disbanded: ?
The post was named for Oliver Hazard Perry Throck Morton (1823-1877), Governor of Indiana during the Civil War.

October 2019

Charles W. Heath Post No. 109
Switzerland, Indiana (Switzerland County)
Organized: 1882 Disbanded: 1936
The post was named for CPL Charles W. Heath (c.1836?), Co. H, 6th IN Inf., died (date unknown) of wounds received at Dallas, GA, on 27 May 1864.

September 2019

Stone River Post No. 65
Frankfort, Indiana (Clinton County)
Organized: 1882 Disbanded: 1917
The post was named for The post was named for Stones River (Murfreesboro), TN, site of major Civil War battle, 1862.

March 2019

Farragut Post No. 27
Evansville, Indiana (Vanderburgh County)
Organized 30 June 1881 Disbanded: 1936
The post was named for ADM David Glasgow Farragut (1801-1870), famous Civil War leader and former Commandant of Mare Island Naval Shipyard.

February 2019

C.R. Burton No. 80
Mitchell, Indiana (Lawrence County)
Organized: UNKNOWN Disbanded: UNKNOWN
The post was named for 2LT Caswell R. Burton (? -1862), Co. G, 50th IN Inf., died 30 Sept. 1862 from wounds received at Munfordsville, KY, on 16 Sept. 1862. Resident of Lawrence County and a local hero.

January 2019

New Waverly No. 19
New Waverly, Indiana (Cass County)
Organized: 1880 Disbanded: 1908
The post was named for the community in which the post was based.

December 2018

General Canby No. 2
Brazil, Indiana (Clay County)
Organized: 1881 Disbanded: 1930
The post was named for MG Edward Richard Sprigg Canby (1817-1873), famous Civil War leader, KIA in the Modoc Indian Wars, CA, 11 April 1873. He is buried in buried in Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana.

November 2018

John M. Wilson No. 112
Bunker Hill, Indiana (Miami County)
Organized: 1882 Disbanded: 1912
The post was named for COL John M. Wilson (1815 – 1876), 155th IN Inf., “one of Miami County’s best known volunteer soldiers and a veteran of both the Mexican and Civil wars. He is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery, Peru, Indiana.

October 2018

Chaplain Brown No. 106
Valparaiso, Indiana (Porter County)
Organized: 1882 Disbanded: UNKNOWN
The post was named for Rev. James Caldwell Brown, D.D. (1815-1862), Chaplain, 48th Indiana Inf., died from typhoid fever at Paducah, KY, on 14 July 1862. He was founder of the First Presbyterian Church in Valparaiso, and a local hero. He is buried in Old City Cemetery, Valparaiso, Indiana.

September 2018

Auten No. 8
South Bend, Indiana (St. Joseph County)
Organized: 1866 Disbanded: UNKNOWN
The post was named for PVT John Auten (1839 -1861), Co, I, 9th IN Inf., KIA at Laurel Hill near Bealington, VA on 10 July 1861. He was the first soldier killed in the Civil War from St. Joseph County. Originally organized as Post No. 1, District of St. Joseph. Renumbered as Post No. 17 when the District system was abandoned by the GAR. On 18 August 1879 the Post was attached to the Department of Illinois and numbered 64. When Indiana became a Provisional Department, the Post was returned to Indiana as Post No. 8. He is buried in South Bend’s City Cemetery.

August 2018

Shively No. 68
Huntingburg, Indiana (Dubois County)
Organized: 1882 Disbanded: 1926
The post was named for CPT Lewis Biram Shively (1825- 1864), Co. F, 53rd IN Inf., KIA at Atlanta, GA, on 22 July 1864. Capt. Shively “fell mortally wounded being shot through the head, and died instantly on the battlefield, while actively fighting in the service of the U.S.” He is buried in Marietta National Cemetery – Section D, Site 2249, Marietta, Georgia.

July 2018

Dan Pratt No. 50
Galveston, Indiana (Cass County)
Organized: 1882 Disbanded: 1920
The post was named for CPL Daniel Darwin Pratt (1813-1877), Co. H, 110th IN Inf. A resident of Cass County, CPL Pratt was a lawyer and Indiana politician. He was a member of the U.S. Senate from March 4, 1869, to March 3, 1875; while in the Senate, he was chairman of the Committee on Pensions (Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses). Pratt was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant as Commissioner of Internal Revenue holding that office in 1875 and 1876. He died in Logansport in 1877; interment was in Mount Hope Cemetery.

June 2018

Ellsworth No. 20
Seymour, Indiana (Jackson County)
Organized: 1880. Disbanded: 1933.
The post was named for COL Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth (1837-1861), a law clerk commissioned a colonel in the New York Fire Zouaves (11th N.Y. Inf.). He was the first Union Officer casualty of the Civil War.  Killed on 24 May 1861 by the pro-Confederacy innkeeper while removing a Confederate flag from the roof of the Marshall House Inn of Alexandria, Virginia, at the behest of Abraham Lincoln, as the flag had been visible from the White House as a defiant sign of the Confederacy. COL Ellsworth was a close personal friend of Lincoln. Lincoln called him “the greatest little man I ever met”, and his body lay in state at the White House after his death. Following his death, “Remember Ellsworth” would become a Union rallying cry.

May 2018

CAPT Floyd No. 10
Annapolis, Indiana (Parke County)
Organized: 1879. Disbanded: 1921.
The post was named for Captain Abner Floyd of Co. A, 85th Indiana Volunteer Infantry who, at age 34, was killed in action leading his men during the battle of Thompson Station on March 5, 1863. Born in 1829, Abner Floyd organized Company A, was commissioned Captain on August 8, 1862, and mustered in on September 2, 1862. He led Company A for approximately six months before his mortal wounding. He was buried with Masonic Honors in Cashatt Cemetery, Parke County, Indiana.

April 2018

Jesse Adams No. 493
New Haven, Indiana (Allen County)
Organized March 12, 1887. Disbanded UNKNOWN.
The post was named for Corporal Jesse Adams of Allen County Indiana. Corporal Adams, a 20 year-old farmer, enlisted in Co. D, 30th Indiana Volunteer Infantry on September 24, 1861 and was wounded during the Battle of Shiloh on April 7, 1862. He died in St. Louis, Missouri on April 21, 1862 from his wounds and is buried in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery – Section 58, Site 10537, St. Louis, Missouri.

March 2018

Henry Apple No. 356
Young’s Creek, Indiana (Orange County).
Organized June 14, 1884. Disbanded 1908.
The post was named for Henry S. Apple of Valeene, Indiana.
Born on November 27, 1840, he enlisted on 9/2/1862 as a Private. On 9/2/1862 he mustered into Co. A, 38th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was killed on 12/31/1862 at Stones River, Tennessee, and is buried in Stones River National Cemetery – plot N-5462, Murfreesboro, Tennessee.