Glorious Contentment: The Grand Army of the Republic, 1865-1900The Grand Army of the Republic, the largest of all Union Army veterans' organizations, was the most powerful single issue political lobby of the late nineteenth century, securing massive pensions for veterans and helping to elect five postwar presidents from its own membership. To its members, it was also a secret fraternal order, a source of local charity, a provider of entertainment in small municipalities, and a patriotic organization. Using GAR