By MICHAEL BUSHNELL
Northeast News
September 3, 2014

This extremely rare, hand-colored postcard depicts the Living Flag presentation done under the auspices of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) at the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Reunion in Fairmount Park on Aug. 31, 1916. The WCTU was, and still is, a tradition based group that is headquartered in Evanston, Ill. Founded in 1874 by a group of concerned women who campaigned heavily against the ravages of alcohol in society, they picketed local saloons in New York and Ohio and petitioned owners to shutter their operations.

The WCTU is still active today as a champion of women’s rights and traditional values. The GAR, however, is no more. Comprised entirely of veterans of the Union Army, Marines, Navy and the Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War, GAR reunions were popular in the Northern and Border states following the end of the war in 1865. The group boasted over 490,000 members in 1890, but as Civil War veterans began to die off, the membership ranks slowly dwindled.

At the group’s last encampment in 1949, the few remaining officers voted to retain present leadership until the last members passed away. The last remaining member of the GAR, Albert Woolson passed away in 1956, formally dissolving the Grand Army of the Republic. This postcard comes from the collection of local Historian and Author Harold Dellinger. It has never been mailed.