On the July day in 1883 when its convening members tramped through the flag decked streets of Denver the Grand Army of the Republic was 100,000 strong. Eighteen years out of the Civil War, Union veterans were in the prime of their early 40's marched with firm steps, heads up. Founded in 1866 as a patriotic, non-political fraternal body, the G. A. R. was in process of becoming the greatest Treasury-raiding machine the nation had yet seen. Solidly allied with the dominant Republican Party, it was well started on its course of welding...
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