Reno Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War receives award

The William Passmore Carlin Camp 25 of the Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) based in Reno has received the national Abraham Lincoln Commander-in-Chief Award as the most outstanding camp from SUVCW National Commander Ken Freshley.

The 20-member Carlin Camp 25 received the national recognition for its activities over the past two years in supporting the memory of Union Soldiers in the Civil War, “the Boys in Blue.” Those activities included an event in Virginia City celebrating the 150th anniversary of the organization of the 1st Nevada Cavalry and Infantry; marking the grave and recognizing an unheralded recipient of the Medal of Honor in the Elko cemetery, and a similar current project for another Medal of Honor recipient in the Fernley cemetery; annual educational displays of Civil War artifacts from both Union and Confederate sources, as well as artifacts from the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) founded in 1866 by Union veterans. Members of the camp have also participated in various events and parades in Civil War attire, and are continuing to document the graves of Union veterans throughout Nevada and the Eastern California region, among other activities.

The Reno area SUVCW camp is named after Major General William Passmore Carlin (November 23, 1829-October 4, 1903), for whom the town of Carlin, Nevada is named. Membership is open to male descendants of Union veterans, with associate memberships available for those who either do not have, or have not yet identified a Union ancestor. Membership applications and more information about the Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War are available on their website at www.suvpac.org . The website for the local William Passmore Carlin Camp 25 is www.suvpac.org/camp25.html.

The national Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War organization oversees 28 departments, each consisting of one or more states, along with a department-at-large, national memberships and more than 200 community-based camps. The Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War is the successor organization of the Grand Army of the Republic that was limited to honorably discharged veterans of the Union Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Revenue Cutter Service who served between April 12, 1861 and April 9, 1865. By 1890, the GAR membership numbered nearly 410,000 with about 8,000 posts throughout the country including 18 in Nevada. The final meeting of the GAR was held in Indiana in 1949, and the last member, Albert Woolson died in 1956 at the age of 109.

The last known Nevada GAR member was George Warren who died at age 93 in 1936 and is buried in Reno’s Hillside Cemetery off Angel Street. The last known Civil War veteran in Nevada was Union veteran William O. Phillips who died at age 95 in Reno in 1941.