Grand Army of the Republic Edwin J. Foster Commander-in-Chief 1929 / 1930

Edwin J. Foster, elected Commander-in-Chief in Portland, Maine in 1929, died at his home In Worcester, Massachusetts, September 11, 1939, aged 90 years. Comrade Foster was born in Waterloo, Wisconsin August 14, 1849. He enlisted June 14, 1864, in Company E, 40th Wisconsin Infantry, and was assigned with his regiment to headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee, at a time when Forrest and his men were devastating that part of Tennessee. He was mustered out of the service with his regiment in September 1864,

After the war, Comrade Foster became a telegrapher, later entering the employ of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad in Chicago, retiring as its Assistant General Freight Agent. He became a member of George H. Thomas Post No. 5 of Chicago, Illinois, transferring his membership to Post No. 10 in 1917 when he moved to Worcester, Massachusetts. He was elected Department Commander of Massachusetts in 1928 and Commander-in-Chief in 1929. He had served several terms as chairman of the Committee on Legislation. He was a member of Willie Grout Camp, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War of Worcester, his father having also served through the war in a Wisconsin Regiment.

O.H. Mennet
George A. Gay
Truman N. Parsons
Committee

Photograph and Information submitted by:
George G. Kane
February 2002