1861-1865. Battles for the Union and the Union Forces Engaged Therein Together With a Record of Casualties.[Cover title:] Twenty-first Annual Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic at St. Louis, Mo. September 27, 1887. Hand-Book of Battles in the War of the Rebellion Showing the Union Troops Engaged therein, and the Number Killed and Wounded, Both Union and Confederate. Taken From the Government Records For the Use of the Grand Army of the Republic

A detailed record of Union battles and casualties prepared by the Illinois Central Railroad for the twenty-first annual encampment of the nation's largest veteran's organization.

The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was founded in 1866 in Illinois, around the pillars of charity, fraternity, and loyalty, and quickly became "the preeminent veterans' organization'' in the nation. It served first as a means of veteran camaraderie and gradually became an unofficial political organization as well, promoting, among other Reconstruction aims, voting rights for Black veterans. Its annual encampments drew veterans from all of the country, and railroads often instituted special discounted rates for GAR members. The 1887 Encampment took place in St. Louis just a few years before the organization's peak, with over 400,000 members in 1890. Lucius Fairchild, the GAR's Commander in Chief, planned to travel from Chicago to the Encampment on the Illinois Central Railroad, and the company accordingly designated itself as the "National Route to the National Encampment." This booklet opens with welcome messages from the General Passenger Agent, addressed both to the GAR and the Womans Relief Corps, whose sufferings are acknowledged to be "not less real and bitter" than those of the soldiers. The booklet also includes a description of St. Louis, touching on its history, street system, transportation logistics, the recently completed Eads bridge, and "places of amusement." 

The "Map of Illinois Central Railroad System" stretches from Delaware in the east to Nebraska and Texas in the west, and northern Michigan to the Gulf of Mexico in the south. It shows the railway lines from Sioux City to Chicago, Kankakee to Cincinnati, and Chicago to St. Louis and New Orleans. A close-up map of St. Louis is printed in place of most of the territory between Texas's northern border and southern Iowa. Fairchild's route between Chicago and East St. Louis is printed in red, and red flags mark "Battles in the War of the Rebellion."

REFERENCES: "Grand Army of the Republic and Kindred Societies," Library of Congress online.