CIVIL WAR GAR REPRESENTATIVE BADGE 1921 1933 LOT

Lot of two Civil War National Officers badges of the GAR Grand Army of the Republic for the years 1) 1921 NATIONAL ENCAMPMENT INDIANAPOLIS INDIANA. 2) 1920 NATIONAL ENCAMPMENT BADGE INDIANAPOLIS INDIANA. Badge is surmounted by a large spread-winged eagle over crossed cannons and artillery shells. Reverse has the original pin. Suspended from this top piece is a gold silk ribbon approx. 6.00 inches long. The top bar has several drops. The first is of brass and is rectangular with a large “GAR” at center with a membership badge superimposed over it. Across the top is a riband that reads “REPRESENTATIVE” with another at bottom that reads “INDIANAPOLIS.” The second drop is of white metal and shows the state seal of Indiana within a laurel wreath. The final drop is a bronze circular disc with a bust at center of William A. Ketcham, Commander-in-Chief. During the war Ketcham served as a 2nd Lieutenant and Captain in the 13th Indiana Infantry from 1864-1865 seeing action at Fort Fisher. Reverse of the drop reads “55TH NATIONAL ENCAMPMENT GAR SEPT. 25-29, 1921 INDIANAPOLIS, IND.” 2) GAR DELEGATE BADGE 67TH NATIONAL ENCAMPMENT 1933 ST. PAUL MINNESOTA. Badge is surmounted by a large spread-winged eagle over crossed cannons and artillery shells. Reverse has the original pin. Suspended from this top piece is a gold silk ribbon approx. 6.00 inches long. The top bar has several drops. The first is of brass and is scalloped with a large “GAR” in red, white and blue enameled at center with REPRESENTATIVE. the next drop shows the Capitol building at St. Paul with 67TH NATIONAL ENCAMPMENT ST. PAUL 1933. The bottom drop shows William P. Wright. its reverse DIED IN OFFICE JUNE 15th 1933. Both badges are in excellent condition. The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (U.S. Navy), and the Marines who served in the American Civil War. It was founded in 1866 in Decatur, Illinois, and grew to include hundreds of "posts" (local community units) across the nation (predominantly in the North, but also a few in the South and West). It was dissolved in 1956 at the death of its last member, Albert Woolson (1850–1956) of Duluth, Minnesota. Linking men through their experience of the war, the G.A.R. became among the first organized advocacy groups in American politics, supporting voting rights for black veterans, promoting patriotic education, helping to make Memorial Day a national holiday, lobbying the United States Congress to establish regular veterans' pensions, and supporting Republican political candidates. Its peak membership, at 410,000, was in 1890, a high point of various Civil War commemorative and monument dedication ceremonies. It was succeeded by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), composed of male descendants of Union Army and Union Navy veterans.