Our Onward March - (Reconstructing America) by Jonathan D Neu

About the Book

"Union soldiers' service to the nation did not end in 1865. Instead, it persisted well into the 20th century as hundreds of thousands of veterans joined the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) and directed the reform and improvement of their communities through their fraternal membership in thousands of local posts around the country. In Our Onward March, Jonathan D. Neu shows how Union veterans of the GAR drew on lessons they learned in the Civil War--lessons about broad principles like democracy, freedom, and loyalty--to undertake grassroots civic projects designed to address the rampant social ills and challenging foreign policy issues associated with US modernization. Armed this time with sage wisdom and unwavering principles, they mobilized again to consummate their wartime victory with reform-minded activism on behalf of establishing an even more perfect Union. Extending the boundaries of America's post-Civil War era, Neu investigates the GAR during the Progressive era, a period in the organization's history that scholars have overlooked. Countering stubborn notions that the GAR was merely a pension advocacy group or an insular bastion of sentimental nostalgia, he reveals instead that the organization reached a turning point in 1890, after which it became an active and decentralized civic association whose members worked to instill a commitment to public life, engagement with community issues, and pride in the democracy they had defended as young men. Anchored by illuminating new source material, including post-minute books and fraternal records, Our Onward March places aging GAR members squarely among the diverse constellation of turn-of-the-century social reformers, using their memory of the Civil War to promote robust, veteran-led civic engagement. By situating Union veterans in this context, we see a more accurate portrait of the GAR post in American culture--as a local center of progressive activism"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

Provides vital new evidence that Union veterans remained stubbornly opposed to the nation's reconciliationist tendencies and unwilling to surrender the causes for which they fought

Union soldiers' service to the nation did not end in 1865. Instead, it persisted well into the twentieth century as hundreds of thousands of veterans joined the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) and directed the reform and improvement of their communities through their fraternal membership in thousands of local posts around the country.

In Our Onward March, Jonathan D. Neu shows how Union veterans of the GAR drew on lessons they learned in the Civil War-lessons about broad principles like democracy, freedom, and loyalty-to undertake grassroots civic projects designed to address the rampant social ills and challenging foreign policy issues associated with US modernization. Armed this time with sage wisdom and unwavering principles, they mobilized again to consummate their wartime victory with reform-minded activism on behalf of establishing an even more perfect Union.

Extending the boundaries of America's post-Civil War era, Neu investigates the GAR during the Progressive era, a period in the organization's history that scholars have overlooked. Counter-ing stubborn notions that the GAR was merely a pension advocacy group or an insular bastion of sentimental nostalgia, he reveals instead that the organization reached a turning point in 1890, after which it became an active and decentralized civic association whose members worked to instill a commitment to public life, engagement with community issues, and pride in the democracy they had defended as young men.

Anchored by illuminating new source material, including post-minute books and fraternal records, Our Onward March places aging GAR members squarely among the diverse constel-lation of turn-of-the-century social reformers, using their memory of the Civil War to promote robust, veteran-led civic engagement. By situating Union veterans in this context, we see a more accurate portrait of the GAR post in American culture-as a local center of progressive activism.

Review Quotes

Based on painstaking research and written in clear and readable prose, Neu revises what we know about the "old soldiers," who, rather than fading away after the 1890s, extended the values for which they had fought by becoming Progressive Era reformers in their communities and the nation. Neu convincingly argues that veterans' forward-looking activism is as much a part of their legacy as their courage and sacrifice.---James Marten, Professor Emeritus of History, Marquette University, author of Sing Not War: The Lives of Union & Confederate Veterans in Gilded Age America and of America's Corporal: James Tanner in War and Peace.

About the Author

Jonathan D. Neu holds a PhD in history from Carnegie Mellon University and works in publishing. His writings have appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Gettysburg Magazine, Annals of Iowa, and in the volume The War Went On. He lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.