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No special access restriction applies.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Grand Army of the Republic Flag, A&M 2933, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Biographical / Historical

The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union armies of the American Civil War. Established in 1866 by Benjamin Stephenson, the GAR provided veterans with a forum for both social and political activities. In addition to honoring their military service through monuments and memorials, the GAR hosted local, state, and national encampments and raised money to assist veterans and their widows and orphans. The organization reached its highest enrollment in 1890 with more than 400,000 members, and during its most active years had immense political power. The GAR was also responsible for the establishment of Memorial Day as a national holiday. The Grand Army of the Republic was formally dissolved in 1956 after the death of its last member.

Scope and Contents

Civil War era flag donated to the Hoffman Circle No. 16, Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic, Morgantown, West Virginia, on December 14, 1975.

The flag was first given to Corporal Thomas Noah Tipton in celebration of his pension. It was presented to him at Berlin, Pennsylvania, on June 15, 1867. Corporal Tipton was a Civil War Union soldier, serving both Company F, 136th Pennsylvania Infantry, and Company C, 11th Minnesota Infantry, and was discharged June 26, 1865, at Buffalo Mills, Bedford County, Pennsylvania. He passed away in 1867, and was buried in the family plot at Fairhope-Burkett Cemetery, Fairhope, Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

The flag was given to his daughter, Mrs. Melville (Emma Tipton) Leach, after Corporal Tipton's death in 1867. She was the mother of Mrs. Thomas E. (Emma Leach) Davies of Morgantown, West Virginia. Mrs. Davies, who acquired the flag from her mother's estate in 1942, decided it should be given to the local GAR, so she presented it to Hoffman Circle No. 16, Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic, Morgantown, West Virginia. Her son, Colonel Thomas Melville-Leach Davies, U.S. Army (retired), presented the flag to the Hoffman Circle in accordance with her wishes.

Some additional provenance information can be found in a narrative document accompanying the flag.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Grand Army of the Republic
• Tipton, Thomas Noah.