USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Fitchburg > Fitchburg, Massachusetts, past and present > Part 12
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October 25, 1877, a committee was appointed to consider the matter of inviting the ladies to organize a Relief Corps. A favorable report was made ; and Nov. 22, 1877, it was re- ported that a Corps was formed after the plan of Bosworth Post in Portland, Me. ; and in January, 1878, the E. V.
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Sumner Relief Corps, No. I, was organized, and it has since proved itself on many occasions an efficient helper to the Post.
Its officers are : President, Mrs. Emma L. Littlehale; S. V. P., Mrs. Carrie S. Bagley ; J. V. P., Mrs. Martha Ham- let ; treasurer, Mrs. Marcia S. Crowfoot; chaplain, Mrs. Martha M. Jaquith ; conductor, Mrs. Carrie A. Whitcomb ; guard, Mrs. Olive A. Cilley.
CLARK S. SIMONDS CAMP, NO. 28, SONS OF VETERANS,
was organized in July, 1883. Its present officers are : Captain, D. W. Colburn ; first lieutenant. F. W. Eager : second lieutenant, H. L. Damon ; camp council, N. C. Upham, I. F. Legrow, E. M. Tennant. Meetings first and third Tuesdays of each month.
December 6, 1877, voted to look for other quarters, and after a struggle of six years moved into the present elegant and commodious rooms in Rollstone Bank block, whence it is not likely to re- move till it occupies that ideal Grand Army building which is to be erected, sooner or later, on some eligible and appropriate corner of Main street. The Post have had all told upon their roster about five hundred and thirty names. THE G. A. R. COTTAGE. They have in their ranks, to-day, two hundred and fifty-three comrades. In their hall hang the portraits of twenty-six comrades who have answered to the roll-call above, and recently two others have been gathered in.
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ORGANIZATIONS.
The amount expended as relief to old members and to families, to Aug. 28, 1887, was $8,091.39 ; sick benefits from April 1, 1885, to Aug. 28. 1887, was $772.50 ; contributed to Soldiers' Home, $1,083. 18 ; total, $9,947.07.
And this charity is bestowed as silently as the dew falls from heaven. It is dispensed by a relief committee whose left hand knows not what its right hand doeth. In order to raise funds for this work of charity the Post has often ap- pealed to its friends in Fitchburg and vicinity, and has never appealed in vain. It has given fairs, lectures, con- certs, plays, and what not, to raise money. It gave more than any other Post, in proportion to its numbers and means, to the Soldiers' Home at Chelsea, $1,083.18.
It has become a corporation for the purpose of holding real estate and owns a house in the city. The following are the officers of the
E. V. SUMNER BUILDING ASSOCIATION :
Directors-E. P. Loring, H. A. Willis, Ira G. Wilkins, N. F. Bond, C. H. Glazier, J. W. Abbott, John W. Kimball ; president, E. P. Loring; vice-president, I. G. Wilkins ; treasurer, Sidney Sibley ; clerk, Moses Hoyt; executive committee-H. A. Willis, C. H. Glazier, N. F. Bond.
The rating of the Post at department head-quarters has been high, they have always had their share of the honors of the department and of the national encampment. Three de- partment commanders have been taken from their ranks; John W. Kimball, past commander department of Massachu- setts ; Charles D. Nash, present commander department of Massachusetts ; Daniel C. Putnam, commander department of Ohio.
Names of the commanders of Post 19 G. A. R., from organization. August, 1867 : Captain Charles H. Foss, 25th Massachusetts Infantry ; Colonel T. L. Barker, 36th ; Ser- geant Walter A. Eames, 15th ; Colonel John W. Kimball, 15th ; Captain Russell O. Houghton, 26th ; Corporal Edward B. Macy, 36th : Corporal S. B. Farmer, 53d: Captain George E. Goodrich, 34th ; Private Sidney Sibley, 21st ;
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Corporal J. F. Bruce, 53d ; Private James Cuthbert, 44th ; Captain Ira G. Wilkins, IIth New Hampshire Infantry ; Colonel E. P. Loring, 10th United States Heavy Artillery.
CHARLES H. Foss was born in Scarboro, Me., Oct. 18, 1828 : received a common school education in Portland, Me. ; at the age of seventeen went to Boston and served an ap- prenticeship with Otis Tuffts, steam engine builder ; May, 1852, came to Fitchburg and entered the employ of S. W. Putnam & Co .. (later Putnam Machine Co., ) remaining with them until the breaking out of the war ; was second lieuten- ant of the Washington Guards at date of organization (July, 1855) ; resigned as first lieutenant, December, 1860 ; enlisted as a private in the same company when the war broke out. The 9th Regiment, M. V. M., of which the Guards formed a part was not called upon by Governor Andrew for the "three months service" as was expected, and when the enlist- ment of three years troops began, by request of the colonel of the 25th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Mr. Foss raised a company for that regiment and was commissioned captain of said company, (Co. F, 25th Massachusetts Volun- teers, ) Oct. 12, 1861 ; received a gun shot wound through the right thigh, at the battle of Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864 ; mustered out at expiration of service, Oct 20, 1864; was chosen first commander of Post 19, G. A. R .; worked for C. H. Brown & Co. during ten years after the war ; ap- pointed on the police force, Sept. 20, 1882. In making an arrest, Aug. 17, 1886, the main bone of his left leg was broken near the ankle, and he was discharged from police force, Jan. 4, 1887.
T. L. BARKER was born on the seventeenth of June, 1826, at Nelson, N. H. ; came to Fitchburg in July, 1855, and entered the employ of J. & S. W. Putnam. He enlisted Aug. 19, 1862, and was commissioned captain of Co. A, 36th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, and served through the war, holding and serving under the commissions of major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel ; was mustered out June 25,
Charles H. Foss.
T. L. Barker.
Walter A. Eames.
R. O. Houghton.
Edward B. Macy.
S. B. Farmer
Geo. E. Goodrich.
Sidney Sibley.
John F Bruce.
James Cuthbert.
Ira G. Wilkins.
Edward P Loring.
PAST COMMANDERS, POST 19, G. A. R.
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ORGANIZATIONS.
1865, when he returned to Fitchburg and was again em- ployed at the Putnams ; joined Post 19, as a charter member, and was elected senior vice commander and commander in 1868 : was also on board of selectmen the same year ; re- moved to Montreal, Canada, in 1874, and in ISSo to Waltham, Mass., and entered the employ of the Waltham Watch company, residing there since.
WALTER A. EAMES was born in West Cambridge, Mass., Sept. 30, 1841 ; came to Fitchburg in 1858, and engaged in the granite business with the old firm of S. A. Wheeler & Co. He enlisted in 1861 in Co. B, 15th Massachusetts Volunteers, (Fitchburg Fusiliers,) and participated in all the service, marches and engagements of the regiment up to the battle of Fredericksburg, Va., December, 1862, in which en- gagement he was severely wounded (at the time thought mortally) and disabled from further service. He was one of the early members of Post 19, filling the various offices, and was elected commander, Dec. 28, 1869. In 1872 he was commissioned inspector of customs at Boston, which position he now holds.
JOHN WHITE KIMBALL was born in Fitchburg, Jan. 27, 1828. He was educated in the public schools of Fitchburg. and learned the trade of scythe making with his father and worked at this business up to the time of the war.
From 1858 to 1872, with the exception of the three years he was in the army, he was constable : fire engineer, 1860 and 1861 : selectman in 1865, assessor in 1864 and 1865 : tax collector from 1865 to 1872, inclusive : alderman in 1877 : representative in 1864-65-72: has been a trustee of the Worcester North Savings Institution and of Fitchburg Sav- ings Bank ; was deputy constable from Feb. 10, 1866, to July 1, 1871, and from that time until Jan. 20, 1874, was police commissioner of the commonwealth. He filled the of- fice of United States pension agent for the Western District of Massachusetts from Dec. 19, 1873. to July 1, 1877: cus- todian of rolls, dies, plates, etc., used in the printing of
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FITCHBURG, PAST AND PRESENT.
bonds, National Bank and United States Treasury Notes, and the securities of the United States in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing of the Treasury Department, Wash- ington, D. C., from Nov. 1, 1877, to Feb. 17, 1879. IIe was postmaster from March 1, 1879, to March 16, 1887.
General Kimball's military life began in 1846 as a "marker boy" in the Fitchburg Fusiliers, and, passing through the different grades of non-commissioned and commissioned officers, was made captain of the Fusiliers from Feb. 24, 1855, to Jan. 7, 1858; adjutant of the 9th Regiment Massa- chusetts Volunteer Militia, from May 1, 1858, to Jan. 7, 1860; captain of Fusiliers from Jan. 7, 1860, to Aug. I, 1861, and took the company into the United States service June 28, 1861, joining the 15th Massachusetts Regiment Infantry at Worcester. He was the senior captain in this regiment, major from Aug. 1, 1861, to April 29, 1862, and lieutenant colonel from April 29, 1862, to Nov. 10, 1862; from Nov. 10, 1862, to Sept. 2, 1863, was colonel of the 53d Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry ; March 13, 1865, was made brevet brigadier general, United States Volunteers, "for gallant and distinguished services in the field during the war ;" from April 12, 1865, to Oct. 7, 1866, was captain of the Fusiliers, then called the 50th Unattached Company of Infantry and attached to Ist Battalion Infantry, Ist Brigade, and designated Co. B, same as before and during the war ; . engineer, on the staff of Major General Benjamin F. Butler, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, from Aug. 15, 1870, to April 28, 1876; colonel of 10th Regiment Infantry, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia from Aug. 1, 1876, to Sept. 21, 1878.
General Kimball served as commander of E. V. Sumner Post 19, G. A. R., 1871-1872 ; senior vice-commander of the department of Massachusetts G. A. R., from January, 1873, to January, 1874 ; commander of department of Massa- chusetts from January, 1874, to January, 1875.
RUSSELL O. HOUGHTON was born in Boxboro, Mass., Oct. 7, 1835 ; went to Lunenburg with his father in 1840, and lived in that town until he was sixteen years old, when
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ORGANIZATIONS.
he came to Fitchburg and learned the blacksmith trade of A. S. Dole ; after finishing his trade in 1857, went to Cali- fornia, remaining two years ; at the breaking out of the war, enlisted in the Massachusetts 6th Regiment for three months as a private. After the sixth regiment was discharged, Mr. Houghton assisted in raising the 26th Regiment for three years, and entered Co. B as orderly sergeant ; while in this regiment was promoted to all of the grades in his company and left the service as captain in October, 1865. At the close of the war settled in Fitchburg ; was appointed on the board of fire engineers in 1872 ; in 1873, when the first city gov- ernment was formed, was appointed chief of police, holding the position for two years ; in 1877 was appointed on the po- lice force again and has held the position until the present time, filling the office of night and day patrolman and captain of police ; was commander of Post 19 in December, 1872.
EDWARD B. MACY was born Aug. 25, 1843, at Nan- tucket ; removed to Boston and was for several years in the dry goods business there ; Aug. 25, 1862, enlisted in Co. F, 36th Massachusetts Volunteers, serving until Nov. 24, 1863, when he was discharged on account of a sunstroke which disabled him for further service : returning to Boston he soon afterwards came to Fitchburg, and engaged in the dry goods business here. In 1875, after ten years as a dry goods mer- chant, he embarked in his present wholesale and retail fruit and provision business. He became early connected with the G. A. R. Post here, held the various, offices, and was elected commander, March 5, 1874.
S. B. FARMER was born in Nashua, N. H., Dec. 31, 1832 ; came to Fitchburg at age of twenty-one and went to work for the Putnam Machine Co., where he remained until the war; enlisting in Co. B. 53d Regiment, in September, 1862, participated in the service and engagements of the reg- iment, returning to Fitchburg at expiration of term of service and again entered the employ of the Putnams, continuing there until 1876, when he bought a farm in Windham, N.
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FITCHBURG, PAST AND PRESENT.
HI., and removed to that place, where he has since devoted his time to farming. He joined E. V. Sumner Post 19 while in Fitchburg, held the various offices in the Post and was made commander in 1874.
GEORGE E. GOODRICH was born in Stow, Mass., April 29, 1838. His parents removed to Fitchburg the same year, where he has resided ever since. In 1855, when seventeen years of age, he joined the Washington Guards at the time of its organization, and at the commencement of the war of 1861 and 1865 entered the United States service in that com- pany, which was known as Co. D, 21st Massachusetts Regi- ment, and, with his two younger brothers, was mustered into service July 19, 1861. After one year's service in the 21st Regiment he was promoted to second lieutenant, and as- signed to Co. I. 34th Massachusetts Regiment, Aug. 6, 1862; promoted to first lieutenant, Co. A, 34th Regiment, Sept. 6, 1863, and captain of Co. C. 34th Regiment, Oct. 18, 1864. Captain Goodrich was discharged, with his com- pany and regiment, at the close of the war, receiving final payment, July 6, 1865, having been in the United States ser- vice within a few days of four years. He was on every march and in every battle or skirmish in which his regiment was engaged, more than twenty in all. He was at the capture of Petersburg and the surrender of General Lee and his army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, April 19, 1865. Since the war he has taken an active interest in mili- tary affairs, joining the Fitchburg Fusiliers, Co. B, 10th Regiment, M. V. M., in May, 1867, serving as captain of that company eleven years : major of the 10th Regiment one year ; lieutenant colonel three years, and colonel one year, making a service in the militia and United States service of twenty-six years. Mr. Goodrich was postmaster of Fitch- burg from Nov. 1, 1866, to March 1, 1879, and now works at his trade as machinist for the Putnam Machine company ; was a charter member of Post 19, G. A. R. : has held various offices in the Post and was its commander in 1876-77.
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ORGANIZATIONS.
SIDNEY SIBLEY was born in Barre, Mass., Oct. 9, 1843 ; mustered into the United States service in Co. K, 21st Massachusetts Regiment, Aug. 18, 1862, and was discharged therefrom, May 23, 1864: joined the Grand Army during the winter of 1867 at Paxton, Mass. : became one of the charter members of Post 50 at Barre, Mass., in 1868 ; came to Fitchburg in April, 1872, and joined Post 19, May 28, 1872. He was commander of the Post from Jan. 1, 1878, to Jan. 1, 1880.
JOHN F. BRUCE was born at Lempster, N. II., Aug. 10. 1833 ; moved to Fitchburg in 1851 : worked for A. A. Beck- with, manufacturer of doors, sashes, blinds, etc .. until Aug. 26, 1862, when he entered the service as a corporal in Co. A, 53d Regiment, M. V. M., serving a little over one year ; was discharged Sept. 2, 1863. being very much disabled by chronic diarrhea and fever and ague : after one year he en- gaged in the manufacturing and lumber business with his former employer, Mr. A. A. Beckwith, as a partner ; sold out his interest in the business in 1871 ; in 1872 he engaged in the grocery and mineral water business, which he still continues. He became a member of Post 19 in 1867 : served in minor offices and was commander of the Post in 1880 and 188I ; served on the council of administration, department of Massachusetts, G. A. R., in 1879 and 1880, and on the national staff in 1884.
JAMES CUTHBERT was born in Tilacoultry, Scotland, April 19, 1842 ; came to this country and settled in North Andover, Mass., July, 1852 ; removed to Lawrence in 1856, and to Queechy, Vt., in the spring of 1858. The spring of 186I found him in Bridgton, Me., making army blankets for the boys at the front, and thinking that his duty also lay in that direction started for home for the purpose of enlisting ; passing through North Andover, was prevailed upon by Mr. Davis, (of the firm of Davis, Wiley & Stone,) to learn the machinist's trade ; he, however, enlisted in 1862, in Co. A, 44th M. V. M., and, after his term of service expired.
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FITCHBURG, PAST AND PRESENT.
finished his trade in Windsor, Vt .; came to Fitchburg in 1866; became a member of Post 19, G. A. R., in 1868; has filled various positions in the Post and was commander in 1882-83 ; was elected in 1883 one of three trustees of the Post, which position he now holds.
IRA G. WILKINS enlisted at Manchester, N. H., Aug. 21, 1862, in the 11th Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteers ; was promoted in May, 1864, to second lieutenant, and in November, 1864, to first lieutenant; served on staff of Brigadier General S. G. Griffin from May, 1864, till the close of the war; wounded April 2, 1865, in the assault be- fore Petersburg ; appointed captain United States Volunteers by brevet to date from April 2, 1865 ; mustered out June 4, 1865. He came to Fitchburg in May, 1880, with Messrs. Parker & Co., furniture manufacturers; joined Post 19, G. A. R., Aug. 5, of same year, and became its commander in December, 1883, holding that office two years.
E. P. LORING was born in Norridgewock, Me., March 2, 1837 ; graduated from Bowdoin College, August, 1861 ; entered 13th Maine Regiment in October, 1861, as first lieutenant of Co. B; went to Ship Island with General Butler in March, 1862 ; August, 1863, was made captain of Co. A, Ist Louisiana Heavy Artillery, colored ; August, 1864, pro- moted to major, Ioth United States Colored Heavy Artillery ; same year on staff of General T. W. Sherman as assistant inspector general ; was mustered out Feb. 22, 1867, as brevet lieutenant colonel ; graduated at Albany Law School, 1868, and settled in Fitchburg in April of that year ; went to house of representatives in 1872 and 1874, and to the senate in 1883 and 1884; was chairman of the somewhat famous Tewksbury committee ; was for several years clerk of the district court and is now comptroller of county accounts ; was commander of Post 19, G. A. R., in 1886 and 1887.
The present officers of Post 19 are : Commander, Charles H. Glazier ; S. V. C., J. W. Abbott ; J. V. C., Andrew Connery ; quartermaster, Sidney Sibley; surgeon, F. M.
JOHN W. KIMBALL,
Commander Department of Mass., G. A. R., 1874.
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ORGANIZATIONS.
Peckham ; chaplain, Ernest Schragle ; O. D., J. N. Cutler ; O. G., B. Parkhurst ; adjutant, Charles W. Gale ; sergeant- major, J. A. Fuller ; Q. M. S., F. H. Whitcomb ; hall trustees, C. H. Glazier, J. C. Bruce, James Cuthbert.
JOHN W. KIMBALL, commander department of Massa- chusetts, sketch already given.
CHARLES D. NASH, commander department of Massa- chusetts, is a native of Abington, Mass., and was born Dec. 4, 1842; enlisted as corporal in the 38th Massachusetts Volunteers, July 24, 1862 ; moved to Fitchburg, March 24, 1867, and joined Post 19 in 1868; has held the following of- fices in the G. A. R. : Q. M., adjutant, surgeon, J. V. C., commander, aid to department commander and commander in chief, J. V. department commander, S. V. department commander and department commander of Massachusetts.
DANIEL C. PUTNAM, commander of department of Ohio, is the son of the late James P. and Abbie S. Putnam, and was born at the old Putnam farm on the Pearl Hill road, March 10, 1844. His early life was spent upon the farm and in the schools of the country and town until his eighteenth birthday, when he went to Washington, D. C., and there enlisted on March 21, 1862, in Co. F, 25th Massachusetts Volunteers, at that time commanded by his uncle, Colonel Edwin Upton. The regiment was at this time in North Carolina, and he joined it at Newbern on April 1, 1862, and, at once, shouldered his musket, and as a private participated in all the services and campaigns of his regiment until May 23, 1864, when he was promoted to regimental commissary sergeant, and on May 16, 1865, was made regimental quartermaster sergeant. On May 17, he was commissioned second lieutenant. He was discharged July 29, 1865, having served a little more than three years and four months. He removed to Ohio, and settled in Clark county in 1868, and was engaged in clerking for one year, when he commenced teaching and taught six years, the last two years being
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FITCHBURG, PAST AND PRESENT.
superintendent of the public schools at Yellow Springs, Greene county, Ohio. During this time he completed his education, which he had dropped at the time of his enlist- ment. In 1873 he graduated from the Ohio Central Normal School at Worthington, Ohio. During the year 1875 he took up some special lines of study at the Ohio State Univer- sity at Columbus, Ohio. In January, 1876, he went into business at Springfield, Ohio, and is now a member of the house furnishing establishment of Andrews, Wise & Putnam. This firm has the largest and most profitable business of its class in central Ohio. Mr. Putnam joined the G. A. R., Feb. 18, ISSI, as a charter member of Mitchell Post 45, de- partment of Ohio, and was elected its first commander, and re-elected for a second term. He was district mustering officer in 1883, and served for three years as a member of the council of administration. On April 29, 1887, at the twenty-first annual encampment of the department of Ohio, G. A. R., he was elected its commander. The Springfield Sunday News, in speaking of his election to this position, says : "It is universally claimed a well deserved honor. Not only is Commander Putnam one of the most eminent and de- voted G. A. R. men, but he was, also, a good soldier, and is one of the best and most accurately informed military men in Ohio as to history, work, and tactics.
TAYLOR UNION NO. I, ARMY AND NAVY VETERANS.
One evening in the latter part of May, 1865, five veterans of the army, W. A. Hardy, S. W. Harris, W. S. Hersey, Robert Elliott and Richard Tucker, having met casually on the cross-walk at the junction of Mill and Main streets, were discussing military matters. One of this party suggested that it would be well to form an association to care for dis- abled comrades like their then deceased Comrade Greene. To make a long story short they voted to hire a hall, and made Sam Harris a committee of one to make arrangements for a meeting. The next day Washington Hall was secured and posters put out for a meeting at which a temporary or-
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111
DANIEL C. PUTNAM,
Commander of the Department of Ohio, G. A. R.
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ORGANIZATIONS.
ganization was formed, and on the following night there was a permanent organization of the "Army and Navy Veterans- Union." At a subsequent meeting the name was changed to that of "Taylor Union No. 1, Army and Navy Veterans," in honor of George C. Taylor of Co. B, 15th Massachusetts Volunteers, killed at Ball's Bluff-the first volunteer from Fitchburg who gave his life to his country. The early records were kept in a memorandum book and have all been lost except the financial secretary's book, now in the hands of Comrade Harris. From the charter, now in the posses- sion of Richard Tucker, we copy the following list of the charter members : Walter A. Eames, William S. Hersey, P. H. Fletcher, William A. Hardy, Edwin H. Minot, William H. Green, Samuel W. Harris, Aaron G. Buttrick, Patrick Lennon, Warren P. Boutwell, Joseph L. Moody, Richard Tucker, George B. Proctor, Henry L. Sheldon, Charles R. Briggs, Charles M. Billings, Abner G. White, John Sul- livan, Amos C. Plaisted. Cyrus Nickerson, Timothy S. Marsh. The charter was dated the second day of January, 1866.
Afterwards a Dorcas Union was also instituted, out of which also may have grown the present Relief Corps. Sept. 28, 1865, the Leominster Union was formed with one hun- dred members-the members of the Taylor Union assisting at the installation. Soon after, Unions were formed in Gard- ner, Templeton and other places to the number of seventeen or eighteen. A grand lodge was organized in December, 1865, the seal bearing these words : "Grand Army and Navy Veteran Union."
Comrade Harris says a purchasing agent from Illinois was in Fitchburg at about that time : that he became inter- ested in the Taylor Union, and procured a copy of the by-laws of the Order, took it West. lost it and sent for an- other, that five copies in all were sent, and in February, 1866, Dr. Stephenson of Illinois suggested the formation of the G. A. R., and published the first draft of a constitution for the same. From the Grand Army and Navy Veteran Union, it would be easy to form the title, Grand Army of the
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FITCIIBURG, PAST AND PRESENT.
Republic-the name of a society which will live while the Republic itself shall stand.
All the correspondence and records, except as stated, were burned up by a good wife in her annual house cleaning, and we can only say that it was not wholly a success, having been organized on an extensive basis, and naturally gave way to what promised to be a more successful association of veterans, the G. A. R.
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