MISSOURI'S
ALLIED ORDERS
of the
GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC
&
OTHER SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS

Left: GAR Handkerchief                                                                         Right:  Page Clipped from a 1896 Magazine

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The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a Civil War veterans group founded in Decatur, Illinois on April 6, 1866. The GAR was limited to honorably discharged veterans of the Union Army, Navy, Marine Corps or the Revenue Cutter Service who had served between April 12, 1861 and April 9, 1865. By 1890, there were more than 400,000 veterans in the organization. Because membership was limited to veterans, the GAR ceased to exist when the last member died in 1956. Before then, the Grand Army of the Republic encouraged the formation of Allied Orders to carry on their good works.

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Only five Allied Orders were recognized by the Veterans of the GAR as their official successors, and all five are still active:
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1. Woman's Relief Corps founded in 1883.
2. Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic founded in 1886.
3. Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War 1861-1865 founded in 1885.
4. Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War founded in 1881.
5. Auxiliary to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War founded in 1883.
   

There were many organizations of Soldiers, Sons, Daughters and Nurses that associated from time to time with the Allied Orders, however none were recognized except the above.  Examples of their ribbons will be shown below.

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THE SONS OF UNION VETERANS OF THE CIVIL WAR recognize other organizations that are instrumental to our efforts to preserve the memory of our Civil War veterans and also members of the G.A.R.  Three important ones in this area are

The Sons of Veterans Reserve, which is the uniformed organization of the SUVCW.  Missouri is in the 4th Military District of the SVR and, as of 2022, of the 8 units in the 4th Military District, Missouri has 4 of them.
 
Co. M, 1st Missouri Light Artillery                Co. A, 2nd Missouri Infantry
Co. E, 47th Missouri Volunteer Infantry                   Co. A., 1st Regt. Missouri Engineers

Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, MOLLUS an organization originally of Civil War Soldiers of Officer ranking.  Since then, MOLLUS is now the descendants of Civil War Officers.

The various regional organizations.  Missouri has been part of the Central Region Association of the Allied Orders since it began in 1940.  The Central Region is an organization in which members of all the orders meet to learn and promote joint projects.