The GAR was a veterans organization formed to maintain solidarity between former Union soldiers. It was especially strong and prominent during the 1880s, with frequent marches and celebrations. By the mid-1890s, the GAR was beginning to fade.

Leaders of the GAR lamented the change, but they missed the fact that many veterans were turning to other causes and concerns. The politics of the 1890s revolved around urban reform, immigration, and the animosity between Midwestern farmers and big-city bosses, all of which tended to obscure the former contests between the North and the South.