After the Civil War there were more than 100 Grand Army of the Republic Halls in the state of Nebraska. There are only four that remain today. The one in Nebraska City was built in 1894. It has been restored and is now a Civil War Veterans Museum and GAR Memorial Hall.
The museum is located at 910 First Corso, Nebraska City, NE 68410, across from the library. Their phone is 402-873-4018; e-mail timengel@windstream.net.
The museum is open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from Arbor Day (last weekend in April) through the end of October. Their hours are noon to 4 p.m. with free admission on Fridays to persons living in the zip code area of 68410.
Members of the Nebraska GAR Posts were from many states. They had served in the Union Army during the War. A detailed account of the History of Nebraska's GAR Posts provides information on the formation of each post, along with dates they closed, when and where they met, the first charter member and the last member.
If your Civil War ancestor died in Nebraska, be sure to check out Burials in Nebraska of Civil War Veterans. The Sesquicentennial of the Civil War beings this year. Make this museum a highlight of your summer travels in Nebraska.
It's hard to realize how many Civil War veterans moved to Nebraska after the war's end, I guess because of the veteran land provisions of Nebraska's Homestead Act. But the GAR emphasis on Union Veterans must have made things awkward for veterans of the Confederacy.
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