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Gardner Homer, the last Civil War Union Army veteran in Freeborn County, will be honored in a ceremony at 1 p.m. May 31 in the Greenwood Cemetery in Glenville.

The ceremony is open to veterans, those with an interest in Civil War history and the general public. Wearing Civil War era attire is encouraged. Private Homer’s descendants are most cordially invited to attend as special guests.

The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) is conducting the ceremony in partnership with Boy in Blue. A salute to the research provided by Julie Schrader; organizers also thank Jenny Jensen, James Olson, Joan Peterson, Sandy Gessler and Bonnie Schuster for other assistance, along with Titiana Sanchez and the History Center of Freeborn County.

Homer was born in 1848 at Toten Creek, Dane County, Wisconsin, and died in Glenville in 1939. His father, Ambrose, had left his wife and children to join his “Comrades in Blue.” The excitement and glamour of army life stirred in the veins of Ambrose’s 14-year-old son, Gardner, and he became obsessed with the desire to “march beside his father.” He stated that his age was 16 and was accepted as a drummer boy. He enlisted on Aug. 12, 1864 as a Private and mustered into “F” Co. Minnesota 4th Infantry.

He was mustered out on June 12, 1865. Various veteran organizations participated in the last rites for Louden, with full military honors accorded. He was the last surviving member of the James A. Robson Post, No. 5, Grand Army of the Republic.

SUVCW William Colvill Camp No. 56 will be presiding over the ceremony. The ceremony will feature the Last Union Veteran dedication ritual of the SUVCW based on an 1880s Grand Army of the Republic ceremony and includes the placing of a special marker.

Camp No. 56 supports the national goal of identifying and placing a marker on the grave of the last Union veteran buried in each of Minnesota’s 87 counties. The members of Camp No. 56 consider the Last Union Veteran ceremony an honor and a fitting tribute for a soldier whose service helped preserve the liberties Americans enjoy as a nation today.

The SUVCW is a congressionally chartered, national veterans organization made up of the descendants of Union soldiers who fought in the Civil War. The SUVCW has more than 6,000 members across the country and is the successor to the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R), the veterans organization formed after the Civil War by soldiers who served in the Union Army. The last member of the G.A.R., Albert Woolson from Duluth, died in 1956.