G.A.R. headquarters

The headquarters of the Grand Army of the Republic in Washington, D.C., was the engine of Cyrus Trask's improbable ascent. From this office, Cyrus—a man whose actual military service consisted of three months of training and a single skirmish in which he lost his leg—transformed himself into a nationally recognized authority on military affairs. The G.A.R., a powerful veterans' organization with nearly a million members, provided the platform for his influence. Cyrus wrote articles on the conduct of the war, corresponded with the War Department, and became a spokesman whose voice was heard clearly in Washington. His expertise was apparent to everyone who heard him, and he was consulted on matters of army organization, officer relationships, and personnel and equipment. He was one of those responsible for organizing the G.A.R. as a cohesive and potent force in national life. After several unpaid offices in that organization, he took a paid secretaryship which he kept for the rest of his life, traveling from one end of the country to the other, attending conventions, meetings, and encampments.

Rise to Power and Influence

Cyrus's rise was built on a foundation of lies that he himself came to believe. He told Alice and the boys about his campaigns, and as his technique grew so did his battles. At the very first he knew he was lying, but it was not long before he was equally sure that every one of his stories was true. He bought every book about war, read every report, subscribed to the New York papers, and studied maps. He became an authority, knowing not only the battles, movements, and campaigns but also the units involved, down to the regiments, their colonels, and where they originated. From telling he became convinced that he had been there. He never once promoted himself to noncommissioned rank; Private Trask he began, and Private Trask he remained, making himself the most mobile and ubiquitous private in the history of warfare. The death of Lincoln caught Cyrus in the pit of the stomach, and he could never mention it or hear of it without quick tears in his eyes, creating the indestructible impression that he was one of Lincoln's closest, warmest, and most trusted friends.

Wealth and Legacy

The G.A.R. headquarters was also the source of Cyrus's secret wealth. When he died, his attorneys discovered that he had over ninety-three thousand dollars in the bank and ten thousand dollars in good securities—a fortune that astonished his sons, who had believed him to be worth only a few hundred dollars. His salary with the G.A.R. was a hundred and thirty-five dollars a month, plus five cents a mile and hotel expenses when he traveled. The source of the additional money was never explained, and Charles suspected his father had stolen it from the G.A.R. treasury. Cyrus's funeral was a grand affair: carried on a caisson with a flag over it, the Vice-President was there, the President sent a wreath, and there was a line of carriages half a mile long. He was buried at Arlington, and the clippings from the newspapers recorded the ceremony in detail. The will left everything equally to Adam and Charles, and the attorneys' letter listed the personal effects: five ceremonial swords presented at various G.A.R. conventions, an olive wood gavel with a gold plate, a Masonic watch charm with a diamond, the gold caps from his teeth, a silver watch, and a gold-headed stick. The G.A.R. headquarters was thus the crucible in which Cyrus forged both his public reputation and the hidden fortune that would shape his sons' lives long after his death.