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Abstract
This dissertation examines the post-Civil War lives of black and white Union veterans who were members of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) in East Tennessee, from 1884 to 1913. The GAR was the largest and most powerful Union veterans organization nationwide, and wielded significant social and political power in the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Though largely overshadowed by the Lost Cause mythology, which conflated the South with the Confederacy and implied that all southerners were steadfast Rebels, Tennessees GAR was the largest and most active in Dixie. Recently, historians have brought into sharper focus the wartime significance of southern Unionists and Union Army volunteers, as well as the roles of veterans and commemorations as integral parts of the Civil Wars aftermath. However, few scholars have provided an in-depth analysis of Union veterans in the postwar South. At its height in 1890, Tennessees GAR boasted nearly 3,700 members and 80 posts. Members residing in the states eastern highlands were at the forefront of the state organization from its birth to its demiseestablishing the greatest number of local posts, making up the majority of members, hosting the greatest number of annual encampments, and most-often serving as state leaders. They even shaped national GAR policies and hosted the only national GAR encampment ever held in the former Confederacy. This study provides a demographic profile of black and white members. It also sheds light on members Memorial Day celebrations, commemorations of Tennesseans contributions to the Union war effort, lobbying efforts for veterans pensions, the establishment of a veterans home in the region, and their support of college scholarships for the sons and daughters of veterans. Though the national GAR was integrated and many members in the North openly censured former Rebels for treason, white eastern Tennessee members outlooks on black veterans and ex-Confederates were much more complex and ambivalent. GAR members played a critical role in postwar East Tennessee and were on the frontlines of issues of race, reconciliation, commemoration, and veteranhood.