RARE- Signed Photo Card GAR Commander Ivan Walker 1896 Civil War Libby Prison

Description

RARE GAR / Railroad Advertising Signed Photo Card
Ivan N. Walker
24th Commander in chief - Grand Army of the Republic
Escaped Libby Prison - Civil War
Advertising for Chicago Great Western Railway
1896
For offer, a rare piece of ephemera. Fresh from a prominent estate in Upstate NY. Never offered on the market until now.
Vintage, Old, Original, Antique,
NOT
a Reproduction - Guaranteed !!
Cabinet card-sized, card on heavy stock. Printed photo of Walker on front, with what looks to be a printed signature as well. Advertising on back for CGW RR, F.H. Lord, passenger and ticket agent, Chicago. Chicago Herald partial article from 1896 about GAR meeting in Louisville. Western Passenger Association. In good to very good condition. Please
see photos.
If you collect 19th century Americana history, American Fraternal, military, etc. this is a treasure you will not see again! Add this to your image or paper / ephemera collection. Important genealogy research importance too. Combine shipping on multiple bid wins! 1798
Ivan N. Walker (February 3, 1839 – November 25, 1905) was an American soldier who served in the Union Army during the American Civil War and as the 24th Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, 1895-1896.
Early life and military career
Walker was born February 3, 1839, in Arlington, Indiana, to James and Jane (McBride) Walker. He moved to the Fort Wayne area with his family when he was a young boy, where he attended the local schools.
Walker was working as deputy warden at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City when the Civil War began. He enlisted at age 23 on August 5, 1862, in Company K, 73rd Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was commissioned captain.
Following the Battle of Stones River, Walker was promoted to major for his gallant service. In March 1863, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. Following the death of the regiment's colonel in May 1863, Walker was given command of the regiment without further promotion.
During Streight's Raid, the 73rd Indiana Infantry was captured. Walker was sent to Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia. He and other officers began working on a tunnel out of the prison on February 9, 1864. Walker succeeded in escaping the prison, but was recaptured by Confederates near Union lines. He was returned to prison and eventually exchanged in May 1864.
After his exchange, Walker returned to the 73rd Indiana Infantry, which was then guarding the supply lines along the Tennessee River between Decatur and Stevenson, Alabama, in support of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's Atlanta Campaign. Walker's long imprisonment in harsh conditions weakened his health, and he resigned his commission on July 4, 1864. He returned to Michigan City where he married Anna Layton on October 27, 1864. Still wishing to serve, Walker relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, where he served as a volunteer aide on the staff of Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas and performed valuable service during the siege and Battle of Nashville.
Post-war service
Walker and his wife remained in Nashville until 1870, when they moved to Indianapolis, Indiana. He served as a Marion County deputy county auditor and state tax commissioner for several years.
He was an active member of the G.A.R. from its inception and served in every office from Post Commander up to Commander-in-Chief. Walker was serving as Post Commander of George H. Thomas Post No. 17 (Indianapolis) when he was appointed Assistant Adjutant General of the Department in 1887. In 1891 Walker was elected Department Commander and in 1893 he was elected Senior Vice-Commander-in-Chief.
Walker was unanimously elected 24th Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic and served 1895-1896. While attending the 1905 national convention in Denver, Colorado, he became seriously ill. Walker died on November 25, 1905, and is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.
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), Marines and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War. Founded in 1866 in Decatur, Illinois, and growing to include hundreds of posts (local community units) across the nation (predominately 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 more than 490,000, 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.
History
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After the end of American Civil War, various state and local organizations were formed for veterans to network and maintain connections with each other. Many of the veterans used their shared experiences as a basis for fellowship. Groups of men began joining together, first for camaraderie and later for political power. Emerging as most influential among the various organizations during the first post-war years was the Grand Army of the Republic, founded on April 6, 1866, on the principles of "Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty," in Decatur, Illinois, by Dr. Benjamin F. Stephenson.
Original G.A.R. Uniform Hat Badge from Post No. 146, "RG Shaw Post", established by surviving members of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment in 1871. In the R. Andre Stevens Civil War Collection.
The GAR initially grew and prospered as a de facto political arm of the Republican Party during the heated political contests of the Reconstruction Era. The commemoration of Union Army and Navy veterans, black and white, immediately became entwined with partisan politics. The GAR promoted voting rights for Negro veterans, as many white veterans recognized their demonstrated patriotism and sacrifices, providing one of the first racially integrated social/fraternal organizations in America. Black veterans, who enthusiastically embraced the message of equality, shunned black veterans' organizations in preference for racially inclusive and integrated groups. But when the Republican Party's commitment to reform in the South gradually decreased, the GAR's mission became ill-defined and the organization floundered. The GAR almost disappeared in the early 1870s, and many state-centered divisions, named "departments", and local posts ceased to exist.[1]
In his General Order No. 11, dated May 5, 1868, first GAR Commander-in-Chief, General John A. Logan declared May 30 to be Memorial Day (also referred to for many years as "Decoration Day"), calling upon the GAR membership to make the May 30 observance an annual occurrence. Although not the first time war graves had been decorated, Logan's order effectively established "Memorial Day" as the day upon which Americans now pay tribute to all their war casualties, missing-in-action, and deceased veterans. As decades passed, similarly inspired commemorations also spread across the South as "Confederate Memorial Day" or "Confederate Decoration Day", usually in April, led by organizations of Southern soldiers in the parallel United Confederate Veterans.[2]
In the 1880s, the Union veterans' organization revived under new leadership that provided a platform for renewed growth, by advocating Federal pensions for veterans. As the organization revived, black veterans joined in significant numbers and organized local posts. The national organization, however, failed to press the case for similar pensions for black soldiers. Most black troops never received any pension or remuneration for wounds incurred during their Civil War service.[3]
The GAR was organized into "Departments" at the state level and "Posts" at the community level, and military-style uniforms were worn by its members. There were posts in every state in the U.S., and several posts overseas.[3]
The pattern of establishing departments and local posts was later used by other American military veterans' organizations, such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (organized originally for veterans of the Spanish–American War and the Philippine Insurrection) and the later American Legion (for the First World War and later expanded to include subsequent World War II, Korean, Vietnam and Middle Eastern wars).
The G.A.R.'s political power grew during the latter part of the 19th century, and it helped elect several United States presidents, beginning with the 18th, Ulysses S. Grant, and ending with the 25th, William McKinley. Five Civil War veterans and members (Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, and McKinley) were elected President of the United States; all were Republicans. (The sole post-war Democratic president was Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th chief executive.) For a time, candidates could not get Republican presidential or congressional nominations without the endorsement of the GAR veterans voting bloc.
Reverse of the Grand Army of the Republic Badge.
With membership strictly limited to "veterans of the late unpleasantness," the GAR encouraged the formation of Allied Orders to aid them in various works. Numerous male organizations jousted for the backing of the GAR, and the political battles became quite severe until the GAR finally endorsed the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War as its heir.
Women members
Although an overwhelmingly male organization, the GAR is known to have had at least two women who were members.
The first female known to be admitted to the GAR was Kady Brownell, who served in the Union Army with her husband Robert, a private in the 1st Rhode Island Infantry at the First Battle of Bull Run in Virginia and with the 5th Rhode Island Infantry at the Battle of New Berne in North Carolina. Kady was admitted as a member in 1870 to Elias Howe Jr. Post #3, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The GAR insignia is engraved on her gravestone in the North Burial Ground in Providence, Rhode Island.[4]
In 1897 the GAR admitted Sarah Emma Edmonds, who served in the 2nd Michigan Infantry as a disguised man named Franklin Thompson from May 1861 until April 1863. In 1882, she collected affidavits from former comrades in an effort to petition for a veteran's pension which she received in July 1884. Edmonds was only a member for a brief period as she died September 5, 1898; however she was given a funeral with military honors when she was reburied in Houston in 1901.[5]
It is possible that other women were members of the GAR as well.
Kady Brownwell
Sarah Emma Edmonds
Later years
The GAR reached its largest enrollment in 1890, with 490,000 members. It held an annual "National Encampment" every year from 1866 to 1949. At that final encampment in Indianapolis, Indiana, the few surviving members voted to retain the existing officers in place until the organization's dissolution; Theodore Penland of Oregon, the GAR's Commander at the time, was therefore its last. In 1956, after the death of the last member, Albert Woolson, the GAR was formally dissolved.[1]
GAR parade during the 1914 Encampment in Detroit, Michigan
Memorials, honors and commemorations
The Stephenson Grand Army of the Republic Memorial in Washington, D.C.
There are physical memorials to the Grand Army of the Republic in numerous communities throughout the United States.
U.S. Route 6 is known as the Grand Army of the Republic Highway for its entire length.[6]
The Commemoration of the American Civil War on postage stamps began during the conflict by both sides. In 1948, the Grand Army of the Republic was commemorated on a stamp.[7] In 1951, the U.S. Postal Service printed a virtually identical stamp for the final reunion of the United Confederate Veterans.[8]
State posts
Every state (even those of the former Confederacy) fell within a GAR "Department," and within these Departments were the "Posts" (forerunners of modern American Legion Halls or VFW Halls). The posts were made up of local veterans, many of whom participated in local civic events. As the posts were formed, they were assign to the home Department of the National Commander-in-chief of the year that they were chartered. There was no GAR post in London, but there was a Civil War Veterans Association Group that had many GAR members belonging to it.
As Civil War veterans died or were no longer able to participate in GAR activities, posts consolidated or were disbanded.[9] Posts were assigned a sequential number based on their admission into the state's GAR organization, and most posts held informal names which honored comrades, battles, or commanders; it was not uncommon to have more than one post in a state honoring the same individual (such as Abraham Lincoln) and posts often changed their informal designation by vote of the local membership. See:
List of Grand Army of the Republic Posts in Kansas
List of Grand Army of the Republic Posts in Kentucky
In popular culture
A replica of the USS Kearsarge displayed at the 1893 GAR National Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana
John Steinbeck's East of Eden features several references to the Grand Army of the Republic. Despite having very little actual battle experience during his brief military career, cut short by the loss of his leg, Adam Trask's father Cyrus joins the GAR and assumes the stature of "a great man" through his involvement with the organization. At the height of the GAR's influence in Washington, he brags to his son:
I wonder if you know how much influence I really have. I can throw the Grand Army at any candidate like a sock. Even the President likes to know what I think about public matters. I can get senators defeated and I can pick appointments like apples. I can make men and I can destroy men. Do you know that?
— Cyrus Trask (character), East of Eden
Later in the book, references are made to the graves of GAR members in California in order to emphasize the passage of time.[10]
Sinclair Lewis also refers to the GAR in his acclaimed novel Main Street[11] and in his novel It Can't Happen Here,[12] as does Charles Portis's classic novel, True Grit,[13] the GAR is briefly mentioned in William Faulkner's novel, The Sound and the Fury.[14] and Willa Cather's short story The Sculptor's Funeral briefly references the GAR.[15]
The GAR is mentioned in the seldom-sung second verse of the patriotic song You're a Grand Old Flag.[16]
The GAR is referenced in John McCrae's poem He Is There! which was set to music in 1917 by Charles Ives as part of his cycle Three Songs of the War.[17]
In Ward Moore's 1953 alternate history novel Bring the Jubilee, the Confederates won the Civil War and became a major world power while the rump United States was reduced to an impoverished dependence. The Grand Army of the Republic is the name of a nationalistic organization working to restore the United States to its former glory through acts of sabotage and terrorism.[18]
The Chicago Great Western Railway (reporting mark CGW) was a Class I railroad that linked Chicago, Minneapolis, Omaha, and Kansas City. It was founded by Alpheus Beede Stickney in 1885 as a regional line between St. Paul and the Iowa state line called the Minnesota and Northwestern Railroad. Through mergers and new construction, the railroad, named Chicago Great Western after 1892, quickly became a multi-state carrier. One of the last Class I railroads to be built, it competed against several other more well-established railroads in the same territory, and developed a corporate culture of innovation and efficiency to survive.
Nicknamed the Corn Belt Route because of its operating area in the midwestern United States, the railroad was sometimes called the Lucky Strike Road, due to the similarity in design between the herald of the CGW and the logo used for Lucky Strike cigarettes.
In 1968 it merged with the Chicago and North Western Railway (CNW), which abandoned most of the CGW's trackage.
History of the Chicago Great Western
Predecessor railroads
The Chicago Great Western, circa 1897.
In 1835, the Chicago, St. Charles & Mississippi Airline railroad was chartered with the intent of building a railroad west out of Chicago.[1] The railroad never began construction, and its rights to build were transferred in 1854 to a new company, the Minnesota & North Western (M&NW), which eventually began construction in 1884 of a line south from St. Paul, Minnesota to Dubuque, Iowa.[1][2] In 1887, the Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas City Railroad acquired the M&NW, and by the end of the decade, under the leadership of St. Paul businessman A. B. Stickney,[2] it had established routes west to Omaha, Nebraska, south to St. Joseph, Missouri, and east to Chicago, Illinois, via the Winston Tunnel near Dubuque.[1] In 1892, the railroad was reorganized as the Chicago Great Western.[1]
Early 20th century
1907 Chicago Great Western ad.
In 1907, the panic of 1907 caused Stickney to lose control of the railroad, and ownership passed to financier J. P. Morgan.[3] In 1910, the CGW introduced four McKeen Motor Car Company self-propelled railcars, its first rolling stock powered by internal combustion engines.[4] In the same year, the railroad also purchased ten large 2-6-6-2s from the Baldwin Locomotive Works.[5] Two years later, the railroad acquired an experimental battery powered motorcar from the Federal Storage Battery Car Company.[6] In 1916, the railroad began standardizing on 2-8-2 steam locomotives, which served through the 1920.[5] In 1923 CGW purchased from the soon to be dominant company EMC, two of EMD's first gasoline-powered cars. During the 1920s, as ownership changed again to the Bremo Corporation, a group of investors led by Patrick Joyce, an executive at the Standard Steel Car Company,[3] the railroad expanded its use of self-propelled vehicles.[4] At the end of the decade, 36 2-10-4 steam locomotives were purchased from Baldwin and the Lima Locomotive Works.[5]
Mid 20th century
During the Great Depression, the railroad trimmed operations by closing facilities and abandoning trackage.[7] It purchased its first diesel-electric locomotive, an 800 horsepower (600 kW) yard switcher from Westinghouse, in 1934.[8] In 1935, the CGW began trial operations of trailer on flatcar trains, which were expanded the following year into regular service, initially between Chicago and St. Paul, but rapidly expanding across the system by 1940.[3] In 1941, it was reorganized in bankruptcy, and late in the decade a group of investors, organized as the Kansas City Group, purchased the CGW.[3] In 1946, a demonstrator EMD F3 diesel locomotive set operated on the CGW, immediately prompting the company to purchase a wide variety of diesels, and by 1950 the railroad had converted completely to diesel motive power.[5] In 1949, William N. Deramus III assumed the presidency, and began a program of rebuilding infrastructure and increasing efficiency, both by consolidating operations such as dispatching and accounting and by lengthening trains.[9] In 1957, Deramus left the company, and Edward Reidy assumed the presidency.[9]
Merger
As early as 1946, the first proposal was advanced to merge the Great Western with other railroads, this time with the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad and the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad.[10] Upon the failure of a later merger opportunity with the Soo Line Railroad in 1963,[11] the board of the Great Western grew increasingly anxious about its continued viability in a consolidating railroad market.[12] Testifying before the Interstate Commerce Commission in Chicago, President Reidy claimed, "The simple fact is that there is just too much transportation available between the principal cities we serve. The Great Western cannot long survive as an independent carrier under these conditions."[13] In 1965, the railroad ended passenger operations.[5]
The CGW, therefore, was open to a merger with the Chicago and North Western Railway (CNW), first proposed in 1964. After a 4-year period of opposition by other competing railroads, on July 1, 1968, the Chicago Great Western merged with Chicago and North Western.[12] At the time of the merger, the CGW operated a 1,411 miles (2,271 km) system, over which it transported 2,452 million ton-miles of freight in 1967, largely food and agricultural products, lumber, and chemicals, for .7 million of revenue.[3] Upon taking control of the CGW, the CNW rapidly abandoned most of the former CGW trackage.[3]
Passenger operations
1906 blotter promoting the railroad's passenger service.
The Chicago Great Western Limited.
The Chicago Great Western was not known for its passenger trains, although it did fleet several named trains, mostly running between Chicago and the Twin Cities. Regardless of the railroad's small size and meager passenger fleet it looked for ways to more efficiently move passengers, such as employing all electric (battery powered)[6] and gas-electric motorcars on light branch lines, which was much cheaper to operate than traditional steam or diesel-powered trains.[4] The CGW's most notable passenger trains from its major terminal cities included:[14]
Blue Bird (Minneapolis/St. Paul–Rochester)
Great Western Limited (Chicago–Minneapolis/St. Paul)
Rochester Special (Minneapolis/St. Paul–Rochester)
Red Bird (Minneapolis/St. Paul–Rochester)
Legionnaire (Chicago–Minneapolis/St. Paul)
Minnesotan (Chicago–Minneapolis/St. Paul)
Mills Cities Limited (Kansas City–Minneapolis/St. Paul)
Nebraska Limited (Omaha–Minneapolis/St. Paul)
Twin Cities Limited (Omaha–Minneapolis/St. Paul)
Maple Leaf Route (Minneapolis/St. Paul, Rochester, Stewartville, Racine, Spring Valley MN etc. to Chicago IL)
See also
Railways portal
Chicago and North Western Railway
List of Illinois railroads