Blue and Gray Reunions

Joined
Aug 12, 2011
Location
Elliott Bay
I just learned about these events which grew in popularity in the 1890s and helped feed the idea of reconciliation after the war. In one event in Atlanta (these were great money makers for the host cities) the GAR commander chided the UCV for their textbook committees. The Rebs were taking an active role in seeing that their point of view was being taught. UCV Commander John B. Gordon rose and protested strongly. He did not want his children taught that his father was wrong.
 
I have heard of the Blue and Gray reunions, but know little about them yet. From my understanding they were still relatively uncommon compared to other types of reunions, though as you mention, they did increase in popularity in the 1880's and 1890's. Though I would have to check again, it appears they were typically quite large events, usually with one or more thousand veterans in attendance, not including the guests.

Here's a stereoview of the 1883 Blue and Gray reunion held in Springfield Mo. It looks crowded that day!

Springfield-Reunion-Stereo-11384.jpg


http://ozarkscivilwar.org/photographs/2011/09/springfield-reunion/


And here's an incomplete list I found of reunions held between 1866 to 1951:
http://www.civilwarcenter.olemiss.edu/reunions.html
 
Several years ago I was rooting through some stuff that my grandparents once owned and found this photo from a newspaper. At the very left-hand bottom of the page it says, "Supplement to The North American, Philadelphia, Sunday, May 26, 1918." The caption below the photo reads, "Only a few of them left" then a portion of The Gettysburg Address is quoted after that.
By the looks of it, it's a photo taken during a reunion of some type and all of these good-looking veterans appear to be wearing a G.A.R. badge next to some badge that looks like a keystone shape. Even with a magnifying glass I cannot make out the regiment number on their kepis although it appears to be 3 digits. The gentleman, 2nd from right, has a star patch (12th Corps?) on his right sleeve and the gentleman, 2nd from left has a diamond patch (3rd Corps?) on his. If these are corps badges then they couldn't haqve been in the same regiment.
What I first thought to be a rock looks more like a small monument or a flank marker at a battlefield somewhere. Well, you can check it out and try to figure out where this photo was taken.

civil war 002.JPG
 
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