ORDER OF THE STARS AND STRIPES

One of the first patriotic societies formed in Genesee County was the local camp of the Order of the Stars and Stripes. This society was organized in Washington soon after the close of the Civil War, but its membership was inclined to include politicians rather more largely than men who had seen service, and its life was short. The order in Genesee county, however, numbered over one hundred members. The more patriotic order of the Grand Army of the Republic soon became a more popular organization, however, in public estimation, as the ex-soldiers, to whom the memory of the sufferings and hardships they had endured but so recently, did not regard favorably an order founded so much on partisanship. Their loyalty to their comrades was paramount, so the Order of the Stars and Stripes did not thrive for long. Capt. George Newall was its local commander during its short life.