The Society of the Army of the Potomac was a military society founded in 1869 which was composed of officers and enlisted men who served with the

Army of the Potomac The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confede ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

History

After the conclusion of the Civil War, a number of organizations were founded by veterans of the Union armed forces to commemorate the service and sacrifice of those who had served the Union cause during the war. The most prominent of these organizations were the

Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS), or simply the Loyal Legion is a United States patriotic order, organized April 15, 1865, by three veteran officers of the Army. The original membership was composed of members ...

(MOLLUS) and the

Grand Army of the Republic The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (U.S. Navy), and the Marines who served in the American Civil War. It was founded in 1866 in Decatur, Il ...

(GAR). Several other organizations were also founded to commemorate specific organizations such as the Society of the Army of the Cumberland and the Society of the Army of Tennessee. In 1869, the Society of the Army of the Potomac was founded and Lieutenant General

Philip Sheridan General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close as ...

was elected as its first president. A total of 12 vice presidents were also elected, representing 10 corps which served with the army as well as the artillery and the general staff. As the Society did not provide for hereditary membership, the Society gradually diminished as the veterans of the Civil War died off during the early twentieth century. By 1906, the Society had diminished to only 350 members. It held its last annual reunion in 1927.

Insignia

The Society had an elaborate insignia, made of gold, which was manufactured by Bailey, Banks and Biddle jewelers of Philadelphia. The insignia has a top piece of crossed cavalry sabres, a blue and white ribbon, a pair of crossed cannons below the ribbon and a planchet in the form of a six armed cross enameled in red with the badges of six of the corps assigned to the army. In the center of the cross is a seal with a crescent moon, a star and a cypher of the letters A and P.Collecting Civil War Medals: It's easier than you think
/ref> Reproductions of the insignia, not made of gold, are sold on an on-line auction website.

Prominent members

Note - the rank indicated is the highest held by the individual either in the Regular Army or the Volunteers either during or after the Civil War. *General

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

*General

*Lieutenant General

Samuel Baldwin Marks Young Samuel Baldwin Marks Young (January 9, 1840 – September 1, 1924) was a United States Army general. He also served as the first president of Army War College between 1902 and 1903. He then served from 1903 until 1904 as the first Chief of Staf ...

*Major General

George Meade George Gordon Meade (December 31, 1815 – November 6, 1872) was a United States Army officer and civil engineer best known for decisively defeating Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. H ...

*Major General

Ambrose Burnside Ambrose Everett Burnside (May 23, 1824 – September 13, 1881) was an American army officer and politician who became a senior Union general in the Civil War and three times Governor of Rhode Island, as well as being a successful inventor ...

*Major General

Joseph Hooker Joseph Hooker (November 13, 1814 – October 31, 1879) was an American Civil War general for the Union, chiefly remembered for his decisive defeat by Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. Hooker had serv ...

*Major General

George McClellan George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American soldier, Civil War Union general, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey. A graduate of West Point, McCl ...

*Major General

Daniel Butterfield Daniel Adams Butterfield (October 31, 1831 – July 17, 1901) was a New York businessman, a Union general in the American Civil War, and Assistant Treasurer of the United States. After working for American Express, co-founded by his father, ...

*Major General

Silas Casey Silas Casey (July 12, 1807 – January 22, 1882) was a career United States Army officer who rose to the rank of major general during the American Civil War. Early life and military career Casey was born in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. He gradua ...

*Major General

Joshua Chamberlain Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (born Lawrence Joshua Chamberlain, September 8, 1828February 24, 1914) was an American college professor from Maine who volunteered during the American Civil War to join the Union Army. He became a highly respected and ...

*Major General

George Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, ...

*Major General

Abner Doubleday Abner Doubleday (June 26, 1819 – January 26, 1893) was a career United States Army officer and Union major general in the American Civil War. He fired the first shot in defense of Fort Sumter, the opening battle of the war, and had a p ...

*Major General George Sears Greene *Major General

George Lewis Gillespie Jr. George Lewis Gillespie Jr. (October 7, 1841 – September 27, 1913) was an American soldier who received the highest military decoration that the United States bestows to members of the military, the Medal of Honor, for his actions during the Ame ...

*Major General

Winfield Scott Hancock Winfield Scott Hancock (February 14, 1824 – February 9, 1886) was a United States Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service ...

*Major General Daniel Sickles *Major General

Emory Upton Emory Upton (August 27, 1839 – March 15, 1881) was a United States Army General and military strategist, prominent for his role in leading infantry to attack entrenched positions successfully at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House during the ...

*Major General

Gouverneur K. Warren Gouverneur Kemble Warren (January 8, 1830 – August 8, 1882) was an American civil engineer and Union Army general during the American Civil War. He is best remembered for arranging the last-minute defense of Little Round Top during the Battle ...

*Brevet Major General

Henry Jackson Hunt Henry Jackson Hunt (September 14, 1819 – February 11, 1889) was Chief of Artillery in the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War. Considered by his contemporaries the greatest artillery tactician and strategist of the war, he was ...

*Brigadier General

Lucius Fairchild Lucius Fairchild (December 27, 1831May 23, 1896) was an American politician, soldier, and diplomat. He served as the tenth Governor of Wisconsin and represented the United States as Minister to Spain under presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and Ja ...

*Brevet Brigadier General Nelson Viall *Brevet Colonel

Elisha Hunt Rhodes Elisha Hunt Rhodes (March 21, 1842 – January 14, 1917) was an American soldier who served in the Union Army of the Potomac for the entire duration of the American Civil War, rising from corporal to colonel of his regiment by war's end. Rhod ...

*Brevet Major

Augustus P. Davis Brevet Major Augustus Plummer Davis (May 10, 1835 – May 21, 1899) was a Union Army officer during the American Civil War. He is best known as the founder of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. Early life Davis was born in Gardiner, M ...

References

{{Authority control American Civil War veterans and descendants organizations Organizations established in 1865 1865 establishments in the United States Union Army Military history of the United States