The Stephenson Grand Army of the Republic Memorial, also known as Dr. Benjamin F. Stephenson, is a public artwork in Washington, D.C. honoring Dr. Benjamin F. Stephenson, founder of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization for Union veterans. The memorial is sited at Indiana Plaza, located at the intersection of 7th Street, Indiana Avenue, and Pennsylvania Avenue NW in the Penn Quarter neighborhood. The bronze figures were sculpted by J. Massey Rhind, a prominent 20th-century artist. Attendees at the 1909 dedication ceremony included President William Howard Taft, Senator William Warner, and hundreds of Union veterans. The memorial is one of eighteen Civil War monuments in Washington, D.C., which were collectively listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The bronze sculptures of Stephenson and allegorical figures are displayed on a triangular granite shaft surmounting a concrete base. The memorial is owned and maintained by the National Park Service, a federal agency of the Interior Department. History Background Benjamin F. Stephenson (1823–1871) was a graduate of Rush Medical College who practiced medicine in Petersburg, Illinois. When the Civil War began in 1861, he was appointed surgeon of the 14th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Eventually, he achieved the rank of major. Following his honorable discharge in 1864, Stephenson began practicing medicine in Springfield, Illinois, and soon began plans for a national association of Union veterans. He named the new organization the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), wrote the GAR's constitution and adopted the GAR motto "Fraternity, Charity, and Loyalty". The organization would be open to all Union soldiers and sailors who were honorably discharged. Stephenson found a lack of enthusiasm for the GAR among Springfield veterans, so he chose nearby Decatur to establish Post No. 1, Decatur, Department of Illinois, Grand Army of the Republic, on April 6, 1866. The date was the fourth anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh where he and most of the other charter members had taken part. After the GAR began to attract new members, Stephenson was relegated to adjutant general and spent most of his time attending to routine duties. At the time of his death in 1871, Stephenson's medical practice was failing, and he felt the GAR would never succeed. Following Stephenson's death, the GAR grew from a charitable organization for Union widows and wounded veterans to the country's most powerful single-issue political group in the late 19th century.