Woodland Cemetery, Des Moines, Iowa
ALEXANDER ST. CLAIR
FEB. 24, 1828.
SEPT. 25, 1900.
2ND. LEUT. CO. I. 43, U.S. C. INF.
16TH. PENN. CAV.
No other event in the 19th Century had a larger affect on America than the Civil War. It tore the country apart and involved people from every corner before it was over. Over a million people were wounded and killed–625,000 from the North and over 400,000 from the South.
After the war, The Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R), a veteran’s organization, was founded April 6, 1866, in Decatur, Illinois. The organization admitted veteran’s who served honorably in the Union Army, Navy, or Marines between April 12, 1861, and April 9, 1865.
G.A.R. symbolism and markers can be found throughout American cemeteries marking the graves of the men and women who served during the war. These take many forms. In this case, the grave zinc marker recreates the G.A.R. badge worn by veterans of the North–the eagle mounted on crossed cannons and cannon balls, followed by a ribbon United States flag and the insignia of the G.A.R., which was a star. Inside the star was a circle that depicted a sailor and a soldier clasping hands in front of a figure of liberty in the center looking on.
Gravely Speaking 
My Great Great Grandfathers grave in Resthaven Cemetary in Windsor Maine appartly had a G.A.R. Bronze Grave marker acccording to a photo I was snt as well as the burial site directive for his stone. When my sister and I finlly found his grave after searching 35 years for him ther was no such marker. He was in the Battle of Mobile Bay in the Mexican War and pinne to the boiler during the battle, requiring his right arm to be amputated on site. Our family had been told hewas killed in that battle and his wife remarried. He was in every naval hospital up the eat coast, skipped Brooklyn where he was from and ended up in Togus Soldiers Home