The Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) regularly held meeting for Union Civil War veterans and their wives at the G.A.R. Hall located at 419 - 13th Street, Oakland. Below is the 1887 list of Posts and meeting times:
- Lyon Post No. 8 — Meets at G. A. R. Hall every Tuesday evening. L. S. Bixby, commander.
- Lyon Woman's Relief Corps No. 6 — Meets every Wednesday at G. A. R. Hall, at 2 P. m. Mrs. Martha A. Simon, President; Mrs. De Irena Fields, Secretary.
- Appomattox Relief Corps, W. R. C. — Meets every Tuesday at G. A. R. Hall, at 2 P. M. Mrs. Gertrude Smythe, President; Mrs. G. W . Bolser, Secretary.
- Appomattox Post No. 50 — Meets at G. A. R. Hall every Tuesday evening. W. R. Thomas, Commander.
- Mother Bickerdyke Loyal Ladies' League No. 5 — Object, to alleviate distress in the ranks of the old soldiers and their families. Drucilla F. Winchester, President; Kate W. Reinoehl, Treasurer; Carrie E. King, Secretary.
The Grand Army of the Republic has a monument and special plot in Mountain View Cemetery, which contains the graves of Obediah Summers, John London (Jack London's adoptive father), and other Union Civil War veterans. It was dedicated in 1893.
Nationally, the organization reached its peak membership of about 490,000 in 1890. It held its last meeting in 1949, and was formally dissolved in 1956 at the death of the last member. The heir of the organization was the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, which was originally a competing organization. 1
Comment/Question: Wondering when/what year the last of the Oakland G.A.R. Posts were disbanded? Also, how many Civil War veterans were living in Oakland in the years following the war?
Pages about the Grand Army of the Republic in Oakland
Links and References
- Grand Army of the Republic on Wikipedia
