Grand Army of the Republic’s Legacy Lives On
by
John J. Dunphy
(Published in the 8–1–20 edition of The Telegraph of Alton, IL)
Founded in Springfield, IL in 1866, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a national organization for Civil War Union veterans. Its membership peaked at approximately 410,000 in 1890. It was also in 1890 that local GAR chapters, called “posts,” established a monument to this area’s men who gave their lives in the Union cause. This monument is located in Alton’s City Cemetery just before that ground melds into the National Cemetery.
I always referred to it as “the cemetery cannon” until some research taught me that this weapon is actually a Parrott rifle. This muzzle-loading artillery piece was named for its inventor, Captain Robert Parker Parrott, who devised it just before the Civil War. The Parrott rifle included a number of various models and saw extensive use during that conflict.
Lettering on the base proclaims this monument is dedicated to “The Union Dead.” How many Americans died in service to the Union? Sources I trust indicate that 110,000 Union military personnel died in battle. Modern medical science was in its infancy during the Civil War, so it shouldn’t surprise us that disease combined with accidents claimed another 230,000 lives. As many as 30,000 Union soldiers perished in the living hells that were Confederate prisons. That comes to 370,000.
Who were these men who rallied to the Union’s defense? Many were Republicans who, while not abolitionists, agreed with that party’s stated position in the 1860 presidential race that slavery should not be allowed to spread to new American territories. Other Union men came from abolitionist families such as Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, who commanded the Massachusetts 54th Infantry, a black unit. Shaw lost his life while leading a suicidal charge on Fort Wagner in South Carolina. While the Union army was overwhelmingly white, over 200,000 black men fought for our nation. Three regiments of Native Americans rallied to the Stars and Stripes in the war’s Western Theater.
Northern Democrats, who had supported Stephen A. Douglas in the 1860 presidential election, comprised by some estimates as much as 40 percent of the Union army. While few of them were keen opponents of slavery, they were fiercely loyal to the Union. They came to be known as “War Democrats” to distinguish them from “Copperhead Democrats,” who sympathized with the South and opposed the war.
The Union dead, who are honored by that cannon, includes New England Yankees who could trace their lineage to the earliest days of Colonial America. Henry Livermore Abbott’s parents were both descended from officers who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Abbott was killed during the Battle of the Wilderness. The Union dead also includes members of the Irish Brigade, which consisted primarily of Irish Catholics who were relative newcomers to the United States. Only the Iron Brigade and the First Vermont Brigade suffered more casualties than the Irish Brigade.
Our Union dead include many farmers, since about half of all Union soldiers engaged in that occupation before the war. According to American Battlefield Trust, other Union soldiers “ranged from unskilled laborers to engineers, hairdressers, mechanics, and even college professors.”
Alton’s Union dead include Lt. John S. Robinson, whose death was announced in the Jan. 20, 1865 edition of The Telegraph. “At the terrible battle which took place at Allatoona some months ago…he fell wounded through the lungs.” Although expected to recover, Robinson died. He is buried in Upper Alton Cemetery.
Alton’s Union dead also include Captain Wilberforce Lovejoy Hurlbut, the only son of Thaddeus Hurlbut who helped Lovejoy defend his final printing press. An ardent abolitionist like his parents, this young man left Shurtleff College to enlist in the army. He went missing in action during the Battle of the Wilderness. His body was never recovered and a cenotaph honors him in Alton’s City Cemetery.
The Union dead gave their lives to preserve our nation and destroy slavery. Our local GAR honored them with this Parrott rifle in 1890. We continue to honor them today.
John J. Dunphy’s books include Abolitionism and the Civil War in Southwestern Illinois, Lewis and Clark’s Illinois Volunteers, From Christmas to Twelfth Nght in Southern Illinois and Unsung Heroes of the Dachau Trials: The Investigative Work of the U.S. Army 7708 War Crimes Group, 1945–1947.
CORRECTION: John S. Robinson is buried in Alton’s City Cemetery. I regret the error.