Vimmerstedt, Jennie.  "Restoring a Landmark," Jamestown (NY) Post-Journal, 2 June 1962 p.2M.
        The Post-Journal website:  http://post-journal.com/

The bugle calls, the muffled drums roll, but the...

G.A.R. Is Mustered Out

By Jennie Vimmerstedt

   The poignant sound of Taps and the plaintive roll of muffled drums over the graves of the soldier dead stirred hearts again this Memorial Day to think seriously in grateful remembrance of those who gave their lives for their country.

    The martial sounds and the Flag overhead have exceptional significance for Jamestown, for here was located the last national office of the Grand Army of the Republic, and here was officially recorded the passing of the last of the 2,800,000 Union soldiers.

    When word came that the 109 year old Albert Woolson of Duluth, Minn., had answered the final summons as the lone survivor of the Men in Blue, the recording of his death in the official minutes of the National GAR was made by a Lakewood woman in the second floor office in the Governor Fenton Mansion.

    Miss Cora E. Gillis of Lakewood was the last executive secretary of the National GAR. Her minutes, a resume of the organization from its inception in 1866 until it was ordered closed in 1956, now appear in an attractive blue covered book, "Final Journal of the Grand Army of the Republic." It was published by the United States Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C., by order of Congress.

    Mr. Woolson, a former National Commander of the GAR, died Aug. 2, 1956. The Post-Journal, as soon as word of his death was carried by the Associated Press, notified Miss Gillis, who went immediately to the office room in Governor Fenton Mansion where a telegram to her confirmed the news. She then made preparations for the trip to Duluth to attend his funeral.

    There, in company with his family, she attended military rites for the last of "her boys" with whom she had kept in close touch for ten years.

    When she took over her office in 1945, there remained 101 Union soldiers. Among them the only one from Chautauqua County was Robert N. Rownd, 104, of Ripley, who died on May 17, 1949.

    The ranks thinned out each year as one by one they were summoned. One of them, James A. Hard, of Rochester, lived to reach the age of 111.

    When she returned from the impressive funeral service attended by about 4,500 persons in the Duluth Armory, Miss Gillis made the final entries in the GAR record book and then sent all records which remained to the Congressional Library in Washington, and all flags, badges and official seal, used by the organization since 1866, to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington.

    As a past national president of the Daughters of Union Veterans, Miss Gillis often said that the main purpose of that organization is to perpetuate the memory of Union Veterans. "Memorial Day is a sacred day, and not a holiday for picnics, ballgames and races," she commented, "the day was established in 1868 in orders of General John A. Logan, commander-in-chief of the Grand Army, and we intend to perpetuate its original meaning."

    In the forward of the book, "Final Journal of the Grand Army of the Republic," Miss Gillis is quoted as saying, "The signing of the order for the closing (of the National GAR organization) by the United States District Court of Washington, D.C., on Oct.16, 1956, brought sorrow to the many who had known the members of the Grand Army of the Republic over the years. They will always live in the hearts of the Auxiliary, the National Woman's Relief Corps, and the members of the Allied organizations, Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic, Daughters of the Union Veterans of the Civil War and the Auxiliary to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War."

    An interesting statistical report in the book shows that 2,159,789 of the enlisted men in the Union Army were 21 years or under; less than 700,000 were 22 or more; and more than 1,500 were 14 years and under. The boys of 14 and less were mainly drummer boys but many of them followed closely the line of battle.

    Deaths in the Army from all causes before the War closed numbered 359,528. Thousands more died after discharge from disabilities incurred.

    Listed also are not only financial accounts but also the highlights of each National Encampment from the first at Indianapolis, Ind., in 1866 to the final one, the 83rd, also held in Indianapolis in 1949 when Theodore A. Penland of Portland, Ore., was commander-in-chief and Robert Rowrd of Ripley was senior commander. Final officers in addition to Mr. Penland were Albert Woolson as senior vice commander-in-chief and James A. Hard of Rochester, as junior commander-in-chief.

    Listed also are complete roster of the executive officers and sketches of all the commanders-in-chief.

    Robert Rownd was the last survivor of the Boys in Blue of about 4,000 from Chautauqua County, and the last survivor also of the James M. Brown Post of the GAR of Jamestown.

    Twice elected national commander of the GAR, he had been chaplain, adjutant, quartermaster general and chairman of the board of administration of the national organization and commander and chaplain of the New York State Department.

    When Jamestown's last two Civil War Veterans, Rev. M. V. Stone and Samuel L. Willard had passed away in 1939, Commander Rownd took part in Memorial Day services here in 1940, joining thousands of Jamestown's residents to pay honor to those two men who had marched in many Memorial Day parades and taken part in many programs here.

Mr. Stone was 93 when he died.  A national adjutant general of the GAR and for many years an outstanding figure in that organization, he was also a past commander and chaplain for life of the James M. Brown Post and a past president and chaplain for life of the Chautauqua County Veterans Union.

    Samuel Willard was 97 when he died. A past commander of James M. Brown Post, he must have had a feeling on Memorial Day in 1939 that it would be his last for he said, "I bid you all farewell today, a farewell as the last Grand Army member in Jamestown." He added that he had been to Lake View Cemetery for 55 consecutive years to decorate the graves of his comrades.

10/31/2003

jpl