RG 099 Grand Army of the Republic

The Grand Army of the Republic was created in 1866 as a national fraternal organization for Union veterans of the Civil War. Iowa was one of the first states to attempt to organize a State Department of the GAR, receiving its first charter on July 12, 1866. But since the Iowa Department was not made permanent until 1879, Iowa is only cited as the nineteenth state to be organized. During the period of the provisional Department, from 1866 to 1879, Iowa chartered 130 posts. Over the years, more than 520 posts were chartered in Iowa and state membership grew to more than 20,000 members. Nationally, the GAR was involved in establishing Memorial Day in 1868. 

The records of the Iowa GAR provide information on the Civil War military service not only for men who served in Iowa regiments but also for Union veterans from other states who later moved to Iowa and joined an Iowa GAR post. The records of the GAR also include records of other Civil War era commemorative organizations collected by the State GAR Office during its existence.

• Index of GAR Post Numbers and Names
• Digitized Membership Cards
• Some or all of these records are available to search in the Iowa History Collections Catalog.