G.A.R Museum Announces Availability of New Book

Michigan's Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) Memorial Hall & Museum announces the publication of a new book entitled CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN IN THE CIVIL WAR AND GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC.

The book is available by sending your name and address and a check for $27.00 ($25.00 plus $2.00 postage) made payable to G.A.R. Museum to:

Michigan’s G.A.R. Memorial Hall & Museum,
224 South Main Street,
Eaton Rapids, Michigan 48827

All proceeds from the sale of the book will go to Michigan’s G.A.R. Memorial Hall & Museum.

The book represents the most comprehensive record to date of the citizens who served in the U.S. Army from Cass County, Michigan during our American Civil War. Based on extensive research, Cass County provided 1,415 soldiers or approximately 7.9 percent of the county’s total 1860 population to the Civil War. Cass County soldiers served in 53 different military organizations during the Civil War. The majority (37) of which were Michigan-based and included 23 infantry regiments, 10 cavalry regiments, 2 artillery regiments, 1 regiment each of Engineers & Mechanics and Sharpshooters, and 1 company of Provost Guards. In addition to the Michigan military units, Cass County soldiers also served in 3 infantry regiments from Illinois, 1 infantry regiment from Indiana, 3 regiments from Ohio (2 infantry regiments and 1 artillery regiment), and 8 United States regiments (3 United States Colored Troops regiments, 1 Sharpshooters regiment, 2 artillery regiments), and in the US Army Medical Staff, and the Veterans Reserve Corps. Of the 1,415 Cass County soldiers who served their country, 258 died.

The book also discusses the creation of the G.A.R., the largest and most influential Civil War veterans’ organization in the United States, and its existence in Michigan and Cass County and provides a compilation of the known Cass County Civil War veterans who belonged to the 12 G.A.R. Posts that once existed in Cass County.

The author of the book is Cass County native Keith G. Harrison. Keith has served since 2013 as Board President and Director of Michigan’s G.A.R. Memorial Hall and Museum in Eaton Rapids, Michigan. He also serves as Co-Chair of the Michigan Civil War History Partners and Treasurer of the Friends of Michigan History. He has written three other books, one on the natural history of Cass County, Michigan, and two family genealogies. Keith belongs to several historical and patriotic organizations, including the 1865-created Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, in which he served as National Commander-in-Chief from 2009 to 2011 and the 1881-created Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, in which he served as National Commander-in-Chief in 1994/1995 and Commanding Officer of the Order’s Sons of Veterans Reserve. He also participated for 33 years with the nationally recognized Cumberland Guard in over 150 local, state, and national Civil War reenactments and programs across the country.