Horace M. Walker Post 18, GAR
Members of the Horace M. Walker Post 18. Grand Army of the Republic, in front of the 3 story brick courthouse built in 1857, at the southwest corner of Washington and South Eighth Streets in Manitowoc. James Anderson, middle, is standing on the sidewalk in front of the Civil War veteran holding a flag. The photo is taken sometime between 1881 and 1895 during Anderson’s first term as post commander.
The last of Manitowoc's veterans of the Great Army of the Republic were photographed together around 1931. Jacob Williams and Frank Braun posed for this picture in front of the flag. MCHS 95.93.119
The first attempt at creating a veterans organization following the Civil War was formed in Illinois in 1866. Many posts were established throughout the United States but many fizzled out until 1880 when a reunion of Union Veterans was held in Milwaukee. It was at this event that Manitowoc's James Anderson - a Civil War Veteran and attorney - was encouraged to start a post with 10 veterans needed. Anderson returned to Manitowoc and found interest to submit an application.
On April 28, 1881, 22 men signed the charter and were mustered into the Grand Army of the Republic as Post Number 18. That night, James Anderson was elected the post's first commander. They took the name of Capt. Horace M. Walker as their post name. Walker, a Manitowoc attorney, was killed in action on November 7, 1863 while leading his company at the Battle of Rappahannock Station, Virginia. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
The goal of the organization was to provide benefits to the veterans and their families.
Over the next 50 years, more than 200 Civil War veterans would muster in as members of Horace M. Walker Post 18. But the GAR was a “last man’s club.” Since they had to be a Union Veteran to belong, when the last veteran of the post passed away, so did the organization.
As James Anderson reflected on the post on its 40th anniversary in April 1921 he wrote:
In our meetings, private and public, we have kept alive the remembrance of the good times we shared in camp and the times of hardship in the campaign that kept our hearts tender toward the comrade who helped you back when wounded and divide his last hard-tack with you when rations were low…
And above and beyond they all cherished the great principal of ‘loyalty’. They have been loyal to each other while living and to the memory of the dead. They have never ceased to remember the great army who made the supreme sacrifice, from Lincoln down to the humble drummer boy killed when helping the wounded from the field. Each year they have marched to the cemeteries when the May-flowers were in bloom and laid the tribute of flowers on the grave of comrades gone before. And in token of a loyalty stronger than life planted the flag of our country at the head of each grave.
The Grand Army of the Republic has practically finished its work. … Already the American Legion is doing a great and needful work in patriotic effort. To them and to the veterans of the Spanish American War must pass the work which fall from our hands.”
Frank Braun was the last official member of the Horace M. Walker Post 18, GAR. He passed away in September, 1933. All public schools were closed for his funeral, and he was given full military honors.
Other local GAR posts were also organized - the Gen. Lutle Post No. 190 of Kiel in 1884 and the Joseph Rankin Post No. 219 of Two Rivers in 1886. Various memorabilia from the GAR post can be found in the archives of the Manitowoc County Historical Society. The minutes of the GAR were formed into a book by author Dennis Moore in 2013.