Grand Army of the Republic Highway

Over ten percent of Vermont’s population of 315,000 served in the War of the Rebellion from 1861 to 1865. To honor the 33,000 Union troops, the General Assembly designated VT Route 15 as the Grand Army of the Republic Highway in 1937. Only 18 Union veterans remained in the state at that time. A national GAR Highway was named that same year, but it bypassed Vermont. The GAR was founded in 1866, along with several ladies’ allied orders, as a fraternal group for Union veterans. The 116 GAR posts around Vermont served as centers of community social activities for the 5,400 members. In 1954, the U.S. Congress chartered the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War as heir to the GAR. The last GAR member veteran died in 1956.