GAR Information forum?

Chetallica

Private
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Location
White Hall, MD
Hi,
Been digging and doing searches on the site for some GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) information and am coming up empty (or way too many nested results to dig through!).
Can anyone lead me to a group or posting list that has GAR discussions in specific? Our family has a a pic of a relative in a GAR uniform and we have been looking for quite a few years for some information and besides what we have from Ancetory.com, we are not able to nail down exactly what unit, etc he was from.
I am getting the old photo from my Ma this weekend and plan on scanning it and posting it on the site to see if anyone can give us a hand on info. But would like to post it to the right location so it does not get lost.

Appreciate any info!
 
Hi,
Been digging and doing searches on the site for some GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) information and am coming up empty (or way too many nested results to dig through!).
Can anyone lead me to a group or posting list that has GAR discussions in specific? Our family has a a pic of a relative in a GAR uniform and we have been looking for quite a few years for some information and besides what we have from Ancetory.com, we are not able to nail down exactly what unit, etc he was from.
I am getting the old photo from my Ma this weekend and plan on scanning it and posting it on the site to see if anyone can give us a hand on info. But would like to post it to the right location so it does not get lost.

Appreciate any info!

Welcome. Do you mind to share his name ? What State did he may have served from. Maybe I can help ?
 
Hi,
From the outfit appears he was in a Maryland division. We have come up with 4 or 5 possible names that could be him and do not have the list in front of me at the moment (my Ma will bring that with the pic this weekend). So hopefully will have more to present soon. I kind of did a pre-thread to see if I was in the right place for this question or discussion (new here, so still finding my way around).
Greatly appreciate the interest! I guess we can just run with this thread as more info comes avail and I post it.

Will keep you posted here.
 
Image.jpg
Image (5).jpg

Sorry for the delay, finally got the stuff from my Mom and was able to get it scanned in. Please see below at let me know if anyone can help putting the dots together. As a summary, a re-enactor friend said the GAR outfit appears to be one from cavalry, and since it is GAR, he would have been Union. But we have never been able to track down a GAR listing to cross ref the name to be sure.
What we know is the pic was from my Grandma's collection and she thought it was her husbands Grandfather (his last name was Earl). And the ancestry Union name we found (sheet attached sheet) shows enlistment as a bugler, so that would fit with cavalry.
Also, they were based out of Chase MD, and we looked to see if there has been and GAR post in that area at one time but came up short there also.
Appreciate and info and if I can supply more, I will try indeed!
 
I hope you find the kinds of links you're seeking. There are plenty of expert researchers here who will try to help you, too.
Welcome!
 
That's a very nice picture. Any possibility of getting a high-res scan of it, to make out the details of the badges?

AFAIK the GAR uniform (like the UCV's) was somewhat generic, so it's more likely that his badges and ribbons would have better clues than the clothing itself. Those would likely tell at least what reunions he attended.
 
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That's a very nice picture. Any possibility of getting a high-res scan of it, to make out the details of the badges?

AFAIK the GAR uniform (like the UCV's) was somewhat generic, so it's more likely that his badges and ribbons would have better clues than the clothing itself. Those would likely tell at least what reunions he attended.

That's the resolution of the picture, it's always had the slight blur in the badge area. I have even used pic software to try and fine tune the clarity, but this is the best it gets. That's what has really held us back all these years, nothing on the back of the pic, and the clarity issues. We were able to narrow down at least the name from ancestry.com, but we have no way to cross ref to see if the guy in the pic is actually the name on the sheet.
I was hoping someone would have a link or a list they could post of GAR posts in certain areas. We know this guy is MD and we know we had family in Chase, MD, so that seems to be were we are, but have not found any GAR listings to check.
 
Don't know if this will help, but "Maryland Volunteers War Of 1861-1865" lists a Private George H. Earle, Bugler, Company D 1st Potomac Home Brigade (PHB). He enlisted 7/23/1863. He was mustered out 6/28/1865 at Harper's Ferry WV. He was wounded 10/18/1863 at Charlestown, Virginia.
 
Don't know if this will help, but "Maryland Volunteers War Of 1861-1865" lists a Private George H. Earle, Bugler, Company D 1st Potomac Home Brigade (PHB). He enlisted 7/23/1863. He was mustered out 6/28/1865 at Harper's Ferry WV. He was wounded 10/18/1863 at Charlestown, Virginia.

Yes, yes, there is an actual listing of his service! We only had the ancestry page (that I scanned and added to this post). Do you have a link to the list or is it a book I can find somewhere?
 
No sorry, I've only got the title. I did find where he filed for a pension from the State of Ohio. He probably belonged to a GAR post from there.

No probs, this is great, thanks for the scan, I am going to print and add to our collection. I did find a PDF copy of an 1898 Maryland roster list over at us.archive.org. I am in the process of downloading it now (it's over 800 pages!). But I think I can do a keyword name search with Acrobat once I have it local.

Thanks again, all pieces are part of the puzzle!
 
No probs, this is great, thanks for the scan, I am going to print and add to our collection. I did find a PDF copy of an 1898 Maryland roster list over at us.archive.org. I am in the process of downloading it now (it's over 800 pages!). But I think I can do a keyword name search with Acrobat once I have it local.

Thanks again, all pieces are part of the puzzle!

Maryland, like here in east Tennessee, was bitterly divided. A number of veterans on both sides left their native States and never returned. I had one Confederate relative that even settled in Iowa ! A number of mine from both sides went to Texas. George applied for a pension in Ohio in 1881. Maybe that's why he left Maryland. His complete pension record would be at the National Archives.
 
Maryland, like here in east Tennessee, was bitterly divided. A number of veterans on both sides left their native States and never returned. I had one Confederate relative that even settled in Iowa ! A number of mine from both sides went to Texas. George applied for a pension in Ohio in 1881. Maybe that's why he left Maryland. His complete pension record would be at the National Archives.

We had some on both sides too. We found another relative (another Earl) from MD that was with the Confederacy, and both from the same family (not brothers, but we see the brother vs brother thing quite a bit). I had seen or heard mention that down in Baltimore City (about a hour south of me) there were Union and Confederate recruiting stations literally right next door to each other. Amazing!

Thanks again for the info and convo!
 
Latest update. I was able to find a MD Roster book at a US archive site and searched and found George H Earle. This has to be our man in the picture. My Grandma said, many years ago when she gave my Mom and I this info before she passed, that this was from her husbands family collection (his name and her married name was Earl, the family dropped the extra "e" somewhere in the early 20th century) and that they thought he was in Calvary.
So we have the MD Calvary ancestory sheet, we have the pension sheet (thanks east tenn roots!) and I finally located an archived listing (from 1898) and sure enough, there he is! I think cross reffing him to a GAR list may be out of chance, but still, if anyone knows of online, hardback or orderable GAR post listings, please let me know.
In the mean time, check out what I have attached!
George Earle Listing-marked.JPG
MD Vol.JPG
 
Latest update. I was able to find a MD Roster book at a US archive site and searched and found George H Earle. This has to be our man in the picture. My Grandma said, many years ago when she gave my Mom and I this info before she passed, that this was from her husbands family collection (his name and her married name was Earl, the family dropped the extra "e" somewhere in the early 20th century) and that they thought he was in Calvary.
So we have the MD Calvary ancestory sheet, we have the pension sheet (thanks east tenn roots!) and I finally located an archived listing (from 1898) and sure enough, there he is! I think cross reffing him to a GAR list may be out of chance, but still, if anyone knows of online, hardback or orderable GAR post listings, please let me know.
In the mean time, check out what I have attached!
View attachment 125477 View attachment 125478

Thought you might like to see photos of two of your ancestors' comrades of Company D, these men transferred to the Loudoun County, Rangers soon after George's arrival.

P1910620.gif

James W. Grubb

P1910629.gif

Augustus C. Rhodes


 
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