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Tom Kacich: A Civil War memorial lives on in Homer

News-Gazette - 5/29/2023

May 29—In 1883, a group of 43 Civil War veterans from the area around Homer reconstituted a local post of the Grand Army of the Republic, a national fraternal organization of veterans. Within three years, they also took steps to establish a cemetery that would be an honored burial ground for Civil War soldiers, their families and others.

Nearly 140 years later, Homer'sGAR Cemetery remains a well-maintained, community-driven enterprise where veterans of many wars, family members and residents have found their final resting place. It is one of a handful of GAR cemeteries remaining more than 150 years after the group's founding, its nearest neighbor in Watseka.

Grand Army of the Republic members operated and cared for the cemetery until 1922, when age and dwindling numbers forced them to hand the task over to the local American Legion post, then full of fresh-faced veterans of World War I. History repeated itself in 2018 when the local Legion post asked the village of Homer to assume responsibility for the cemetery grounds just across the street from the village offices.

"There was a written agreement between the Legion and the Village for the transfer of property and to maintain the name of Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery," said Homer Village Clerk Sharon Jeffers.

"Currently, the cemetery is self-sufficient, thanks to the wonderful crew of volunteers that we have," she added. "We are blessed to have a large crew of volunteers that mow the cemetery, and the village maintenance crew that helps maintain and prepare the graves."

Before there was a Veterans of Foreign Wars or an American Legion, there was the Grand Army of the Republic, organized in Decatur almost a year to the day after the end of the Civil War. The group, which grew quickly into an influential political and social powerhouse, had three objectives: fraternity, charity and loyalty.

Local groups, or posts, were encouraged to hold meetings and encampments, where members could catch up on events and swap war stories. Homer GAR members frequently held summer encampments at old Homer Park along the Salt Fork of the Vermilion River. State and national encampments also were held (the last was in 1949 in Indianapolis, when six of the nation's 16 remaining GAR members were able to attend).

In charity, the GAR and its local posts established funds to help old soldiers, their widows and orphans. It promoted the establishments of soldiers and orphans homes (Danville'sNational Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers opened in 1898). The GAR also successfully lobbied the federal government for more liberal rules for disabled soldiers.

In loyalty, the GAR promoted the preservation of Civil War battlefields and sites, the erection of monuments and the organization of cemeteries or, at the least, sections within cemeteries where Civil War veterans could be memorialized. The GAR also advanced the notion of a Decoration Day every May 30, when the graves of fallen veterans would be decorated with flags and flowers. Decoration Day eventually became Memorial Day and is celebrated on the last Monday of May.

Among the 90 or so Civil War veterans buried at the Homer GAR Cemetery are some of the founders of the Homer GAR post (William Custer, Aubert Conkey and Patrick Judge); Lt. William Morton, a Pennsylvania native who served four years in the war and later moved to Illinois and became a successful farmer near St. Joseph; and Samuel Persons, a corporal in the United States Colored Infantry, who was a barber in Homer until his death in 1893.

The gravestones at the cemetery provide a solemn illustration of the nation's westward growth and the post-Civil War migration to Champaign County. Many of the old soldiers buried at the GAR Cemetery had enlisted with battle groups from Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia but moved to Illinois after the war.

A large monument to Civil War soldiers stands on the eastern side of the GAR Cemetery. Erected in 1901 and made of Vermont granite, it is known as the "Soldier's Monument." It was a gift of the Women's Relief Corps, the women's auxiliary group of the GAR. At one time, there was a cast-iron replica Civil War cannon near the monument that was donated in 1909 by Congressman William B. McKinley of Champaign (who also was a millionaire and owner of the Illinois Traction System and other utility interests). The cannon was stolen in 1977 and never recovered.

A 1927 survey of Champaign County cemeteries undertaken by county Surveyor Godfrey Sperling said that 1,196 Civil War veterans were buried in cemeteries in the county. The largest number, about 500, rested at Mount Hope Cemetery in Champaign.

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