A late Auroran’s Civil War battlefield pocket diary came home Friday, June 12.
Harry Reineke IV, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, presented documents and a diary handwritten by Union Army corporal Frederick L. Thayer. Accepting the items from Reineke was Eric Pry, director of Aurora’s Grand Army of the Republic hall in downtown Aurora. Thayer’s great-grandson Frederick C. Hall donated the diary.
Thayer served in the Union army from 1861 to 1862 when he was discharged after being wounded. He re-enlisted and served from 1864 to 1865 before moving from Massachusetts to Aurora where he worked as a machinist and helped found the Aurora GAR chapter on June 10, 1875. He is buried at Spring Lake Cemetery in Aurora.
Michael Zafran, commander, Illinois Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Sheridan Camp No. 2, led the presentation. Chaplain Jerome Kowalski gave an invocation and benediction. Zafran and Reineke donned replica Union army caps and Kowalski dressed in a period costume for the event.
The Aurora Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Museum operates the GAR Hall, 23 E. Downer Place in Aurora. After being closed for COVID-19 and exhibit updates, the Museum will reopen to the public July 4. Visit hours will be Fridays from noon to 4 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and first Fridays from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m..
Admission is free but donations are accepted. Parking is available on the street and at a nearby parking garage.
The GAR Hall is Aurora’s only military museum, preserving artifacts from 1861 through today. Individual and group tours available by appointment. Contact curator, Eric Pry, at Epry@aurora-il.org.
According to Pry, June 10, 1875, 23 Union Army veterans of Aurora met in the office of Alexander C. Little, Aurora mayor, to form G.A.R. Post No. 26. Through the next 74 years, the G.A.R. Post would become the most influential organization –economically, politically, and culturally–in Aurora. In July 1876 the Department of Illinois reorganized the posts in Illinois and Post No. 26 became G.A.R. Post No. 20 Aurora.
The GAR Hall, Post 20, was built as a memorial for Civil War veterans. On both a national and local scale the GAR was active in pursuing benefits for veterans. The GAR founded soldiers’ homes, worked to provide relief for widows and orphans and lobbied for pension legislation.
Membership was limited to honorably discharged veterans of the Union Army, Navy, Marine Corps or the Revenue Cutter Service who had served between 1861 and 1865.
Aurora Post 20 was completed in 1878 for $7,184.54 These funds had been raised over a period of 10 years by the Soldiers Monument Association and the Ladies Monument Association, a group that later became GAR Aurora, Post 20. In the heart of a thriving new community, they built a monument that would honor their fallen comrades while creating a legacy for the future.
The GAR Hall was a sanctuary. It served as a gathering place for men who had fought side by side on the battlefields, a shrine to the Union dead and a place of scholarship as Aurora’s first free library.
Call 630-256-3340 or visit aurora-il.org/372/Grand-Army-of-the-Republic for more information.
—Al Benson