Editing Grand Army of the Republic (section)

===Later years===
[[File:Grand Army of the Republic Encampment, Blue Earth County, Minnesota - DPLA - f42b9c2f83869dfb53d9a4c16a0863f2.jpg|thumb|Grand Army of the Republic Encampment, Blue Earth County, Minnesota]]
The GAR reached its largest enrollment in 1890, with 410,000 members.<ref>{{cite journal| title=Beginning the Welfare State: Civil War Veterans' Pensions| url=https://mises.org/library/beginning-welfare-state-civil-war-veterans’-pensions| date=June 19, 2019| first=Murray N.| last=Rothbard| journal=[[Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics]]| volume=22| number=1| pages=68–81| doi=10.35297/qjae.010019| s2cid=197810818| doi-access=free}}</ref> It held a "National Encampment" in 1866 and then every year from 1868 to 1949.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://guides.loc.gov/grand-army-of-the-republic/national-encampments | title=Research Guides: Grand Army of the Republic and Kindred Societies: A Guide to Resources in the General Collections of the Library of Congress: National Encampments }}</ref> Interesting anecdotes from the war were told around the many campfires at these reunions and compiled in a book of campfire "chats", including descriptions of the festivities at the 1884–1886 encampments in [[Minneapolis]], [[Portland, Maine]] and [[San Francisco]].<ref>{{cite book| last=Davis| first=Washington| year=1888| title=Camp-Fire Chats| publisher=Lewis Publishing Co.| location=Chicago| url=https://archive.org/details/campfirechatsci00davigoog/page/n13| access-date=August 14, 2019}}</ref> At the final encampment in [[Indianapolis]], [[Indiana]], in 1949, the few surviving attendees voted to retain the existing officers in place until the organization's dissolution. Theodore Penland of [[Oregon]], the GAR's Commander at the time, was therefore its last.<ref name="suvcw"/> At the time of the last national encampment, 16 members were still living and six were able to attend, including [[James Hard]], the last combat veteran, who had fought at First Bull Run, Antietam, and Chancellorsville.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stilwell  |first=Blake |date=2022-09-03 |title=The last Union combat veteran of the Civil War lived to see the Cold War |url=https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-trending/combat-vets-of-civil-war/ |access-date=2022-09-03 |website=We Are The Mighty |language=en-US}}</ref> In 1956, after the death of the last member, [[Albert Woolson]], the GAR was formally dissolved.<ref name="suvcw">{{cite web |title=Brief History of the Grand Army of the Republic |publisher=suvcw.org |first=Glenn B. |last=Knight |access-date=2011-01-18 |url=http://suvcw.org/gar.htm |archive-date=January 7, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110107150904/http://suvcw.org/gar.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>