On September 10, 1885, veterans of the 10th New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry gathered in Hooksett, New Hampshire. In this posed group portrait, they appear beside a drum marked “Manchester War Veterans drum G.A.R. Corps,” linking the occasion to the Grand Army of the Republic, the major Union-veterans’ organization of the postwar era.
Organized in Manchester in 1862, the 10th New Hampshire served until 1865 and saw action in major Eastern Theater campaigns. Its wartime service included Fredericksburg, Cold Harbor, the June 1864 fighting before Petersburg, and the ensuing siege of Petersburg and Richmond.
Conducted two decades after the war, the photograph reflects the importance of veterans’ reunions, comradeship, and public remembrance in late-nineteenth-century America. The prominently displayed G.A.R. drum makes the image especially resonant as a record of how former Union soldiers preserved their shared identity and memory after the conflict.
Image: Library of Congress; no known restrictions.
