Civil War Veterans Museum Stop # 39 pg # 46

Seeing a Civil War Museum in Nebraska was a surprise for me.  I guess I never gave it a thought since Nebraska wasn't even a state until almost 2 years after the war ended.

The building is something I hadn't seen before.  As you can see, the name on the building is G. A. R. Memorial Hall.  It stands for Grand Army of the Republic which was a fraternal organization of veterans of the Union Army from the civil war.  There were numerous buildings around the country serving as meeting halls for these men.  I think there are 6 still in Nebraska.  The highest membership in this organization came in 1890 which counted 410,000 people.

The museum briefly tells the story of the Civil War from before it started to after its conclusion.

Most of this was taught in school history classes but like many of you, I didn't really like history then.  I think that was somewhat due to teacher's presentation styles back then.  But certainly our (I mean most of us students) attention was not on what happened over a hundred years ago.  NOW, I find it very interesting.

I hope this photo can be expanded enough to read.  The timeline depicts all the major events of the war.

This is a rough depiction of what a field officer's tent might have looked like.  

Here is a look at what some of the money looked like then.

The 1st Nebraska Infantry was mustered in June of 1861.  They remained in the service until being disbanded in June of 1866.  In August of 1864 they were sent back to Omaha and on to Fort Kearny to assist in the settlement of the area.

Several amendments to the constitution were enacted after the Civil War.

Many changes took place after the war.  Some of those are briefly discussed here.  

This museum is really interesting.  There's also a gift shop in a side room where you can find several items of interest, including several books.  Oddly, Shelby Foote's books are not there.  If you ever go there and have even a slight interest in the Civil War, this is a great place for a brief overview.  Also worth mentioning, all the guns are actual guns from that period, not replicas.  (Anyway, that's what I was told).  Plan on at least an hour here, two is even better.