Compilation of the Death Rolls of the Departments of Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska, Grand Army of the Republic, 1883-1948

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Introduction page from
Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska Civil War Veterans: Compilation of the Death Rolls of the Departments of Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska, Grand Army of the Republic, 1883-1948

The Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) was founded in 1866 in Illinois and became the largest association of Civil War Union veterans. The G.A.R.’s national membership reached its peak in 1890 at 409,489, but as the veterans died, the membership inevitably declined. The national membership dropped to 213,901 in 1910 and 16,597 in 1930. The last surviving G.A.R. member died in 1956.

Those eligible for membership were: "Soldiers and sailors of the United States Army, Navy or Marine Corps, who served between April 12, 1861, and April 9, 1865, in the war for the suppression of the rebellion, and those having been honorably discharged therefrom after such service, and of such state regiments as were called into active service and subject to the orders of U.S. general officers, between the dates mentioned. No person shall be eligible to membership who has, at any time, borne arms against the United States."*

The G.A.R. was organized in departments, most of which comprised one state. These departments published annual reports describing their activities for the preceding year, and these reports usually contain a death roll of the department’s members. The Journal of the 10th Annual Encampment, Department of Iowa, Grand Army of the Republic, published in 1884, was the first of the Department of Iowa annual reports to contain a death roll of its members. The Proceedings of the 3rd Annual Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, Department of Kansas, published in 1884, was the first of the Department of Kansas annual reports to contain a death roll of its members. The Journal of the 8th Annual Encampment, Grand Army of the Republic, Department of Nebraska, published in 1884, was the first of the Department of Nebraska annual reports to contain a death roll of its members. Thereafter, death rolls were published annually in each department’s Journal of the Annual Encampment. (The title of these publications varies slightly.) The Department of Kansas did not publish death rolls in its 23rd Journal (published in 1904) or its 27th Journal (published in 1908). The Department of Nebraska did not publish death rolls in its 14th Journal (published in 1890) or its 23rd Journal (published in 1899).

To compile these death rolls, the departments requested each of their local chapters, known as "posts," to submit a death roll of its members. Compliance with this request varied from post to post and year to year; some posts submitted incomplete rolls or none at all. The department death rolls published in the Journal usually contain the member’s name, company, regiment or ship, date of death, and the number of the post to which he belonged. The Journal often also includes the member’s rank and age. When the Journal’s death roll contains additional information, such as cause of death, place of death, or place of burial, I recorded this information in the "Company, Regiment or Ship" column.

I compiled these death rolls primarily from Journals in the holdings of the Library of Congress, University of Illinois Library, State Historical Society of Iowa Library, Kansas State Historical Society Library, Nebraska State Historical Society Library, and Wisconsin Historical Society Library. This book contains records of more than 36,000 G.A.R. members, who served in Civil War units from 37 states and territories. (A statistical summary of the states and territories from which these members served appears in Appendix E.)

In transcribing these death rolls, I made every effort to record the information accurately and completely, with the following two exceptions. Several early Department of Kansas death rolls include notes regarding G.A.R. offices held by members and a note that a member was buried by the post. I did not record this information in this book. Similarly, some of the Department of Nebraska death rolls include the member’s dates of Civil War enlistment and discharge, date of muster into the G.A.R., and G.A.R. offices held. I did not record this information in this book. Since the ranks and regiments in the original death rolls were not recorded in a uniform manner, I standardized this information as much as possible. For example, in the original death rolls "Ohio Volunteer Infantry" is variously recorded as "Ohio Vol. Inf.," "Ohio Vol. Inft.," and "O.V.I." In this compilation, I consistently recorded these entries as "Ohio Vol. Inf." When I had any doubt regarding the correct interpretation of an entry, I recorded the information exactly as it appears in the original death roll. Information supplied by me that is not in the original death rolls appears in brackets.

To facilitate sorting, I recorded names such as "La Dee" and "Van Ausdale" as "LaDee" and "VanAusdale," respectively. Occasionally volumes of the Journal of the Annual Encampment include obituaries of G.A.R. members that contain additional information about the individual. These names are listed in the death rolls section of this book with a reference to Appendix D, which contains the citation for the number, year and page number of the Journal that includes the obituary. I added several cross references in cases in which it appears likely that a member’s name was inaccurately recorded in the original death rolls. The final column contains the number and year of the Journal from which the entry was extracted. For example, if the last column reads "IA, 24th, 1900," this indicates that the entry was taken from the Journal of the 24th Annual Encampment, Department of Iowa, which was published in 1900. Appendices A, B and C contain rosters for the Departments of Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska, which list the number, name, and location of each post.

Users of this compilation should note the following: The death rolls in the Journal are usually stated to contain the deaths for the year preceding its publication. The death roll in each Journal often contains a title on the first page that reads "Roll of Honor for the Year . . ." or "Memorial Roll for the Year . . ." Within this death roll, entries for each member contain the month and day of the death, but in some cases not the year. In this compilation, the year from the title of the death roll has been supplied for each entry in that death roll. For example, the thirty-fourth annual encampment of the Department of Kansas was held May 11–13, 1915. The death roll published in the Journal of the 34th Encampment is titled "Memorial Roll, 1914." A death date of January 10 in this death roll has been recorded in this compilation as January 10, 1914. However, it appears likely that occasionally the original death rolls include some submissions of deaths from the early months of the same year of the publication of the Journal, in addition to those from the year preceding the publication. Thus, the death date January 10 in the "Memorial Roll, 1914" published in the Journal of the 34th Encampment may actually be a record of a death that occurred on January 10, 1915, which would have been recorded in this compilation as occurring on January 10, 1914.

Researchers interested in acquiring selected data in this book arranged in another way (i.e., all the members of a particular post, or all the members of a particular regiment) may contact me at dennis@ngpublications.com.

*Membership application of W.A. Hequembourg in Ransom Post No. 131, Department of Missouri, January 9, 1892, Grand Army of the Republic Collection, Missouri Historical Society Archives, St. Louis.