The Veterans of GAR Posts tended to elect Post Officers who were the Commissioned Officers they followed in the field during the war, or were they were highly respected non Commissioned Officers, Medal of Honor Recipients, or Distinguished Meritorious Servicemen.     In most GAR Posts quite often elected the members who served as Commissioned Officers during the war.     Most were also members of MOLLUS, which pre-dated the GAR.     The favored topics of discussion and comradery at most GAR meetings involved repeated stories and experiences about the Campaigns and great events of the war in which the men mutually participated, as well as the political issues of the day that affected their ability to care for the wives, widows and children of fallen and deceased fellow Veterans.     Unit Pride, Patriotism and their Unit Battle Honors were extremely important to all the Veterans of the GAR.     The GAR had such a strong impact on America, most fathers insisted their daughters must wed a veteran or a son of a veteran.     To do otherwise was not considered patriotic or proper.

      The general membership of the GAR were former Union Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Enlisted Men (of the Army, Navy, Marines, Medical and Revenue Cutter Service).     The enlisted men tended to elect the Veteran Officers they served under during the war to serve as officers of the GAR.     Since for about the first 30 years of the RI GAR almost all the RI GAR Department Officers were also members of MOLLUS, the most influencial men of the community actually controlled the GAR across the country.     In most cases this trend tended to carry through during the 1870 to 1900 period of American History and the GAR.     The GAR in Rhode Island overwhelmingly consisted of influential members of the Republican Political Party, of which former Colonel Charles R. Brayton, "Boss Brayton", emerged as being the most politically powerful figure in the Ocean State.     Boss Brayton rigidly controlled almost all the political spectrums of Rhode Island on the Local, State and National levels.     He was the only man in Rhode Island Colonial and/or State History to ever maintain a prominent office in the Rhode Island State House without ever holding an official RI Public office elected by the people of the State.     Most who opposed Boss Brayton on just about anything, lived to regret it.

      All GAR Post 4 meetings were conducted in accordance to GAR and paramilitary protocol.     Post 4 elected and appointed officers were expected to recite all meeting and ceremonial ritual from memory and never allowed to conduct their duties or standard GAR proceedures for meetings and ceremonies by reading it from the GAR manual.     GAR (and SUVCW) meeting rooms were arranged similar to Mansinc tradition.     About mid-way through each Post meeting the men would take a break and partake in a collation usually prepared by the WRC or the Daughters of the Union Veterans of the Civil War.     During that time the veterans would smoke their cigars and reminisce about their experiences in the Civil War.     The consumption of alcohol was forbidden at all Post 4 functions.     Most Post 4 members were strict believers in the 19th Century "Temperance Movement" in America.     Since at times (in the early days of the GAR) meetings could become rather spirited and political, by 1890, Arnold Post No. 4 as well as most GAR Posts across the country required all members to check their personal weapons at the door.

      By the 11th RI GAR Department Encampment, held on January 30 1878, Department Commander and US Congressman Henry J. Spooner, also a close friend of Elisha Hunt Rhodes, announced at the opening of the Encampment that Dr. Hutchinson as Commander of "Arnold" Post No. 4 had 63 members and was attending with 3 elected delegates (one per each of its 20 members).     By this time E.H. Rhodes (with Burnside’s support as Past Commander-in-Chief) was National GAR Sr. Vice Commander-in-Chief.     Post 4 fielded a full delegation at the 1878 RI Department Encampment.     The Post 4 Delegates at the convention with Post 4 Commander W.F. Hutchinson were Frank H. Brown, John S. Coggeshall and Marcus A. Vose, all very well respected RI Civil War Veterans.     As RI Department Commander Spooner was about to bang the gavel to open the Encampment, Boss Brayton (a Past Post Commander of Post 1 and Past Dept. Commander) rose to challenge the legitimacy of the Post 4 delegation attending its first RI GAR Department Encampment.     Brayton claimed to have affidavits proving that Post 4 had inducted four men after their 4th quarter reports were submitted to the Department showing membership.     He asserted the men could not be counted as members of Post 4 in time for the Encampment.     The delegation of Post 10 argued in favor of the true delegation of Post 4, as did Hutchinson and his delegation.     Hutchinson argued there was no official deadline rule prohibiting counting the four Post 4 members.     The new men of Post 4 were all members in good standing, even though they became members after the quarterly report to the Department just prior to the Encampment.     There is some indication the argument got quite heated.     Since it was common for men to carry pocket pistols and other small arms as a normal way of life during the mid and late 19th Century, the National GAR required all Departments and Posts to enforce a rule to check all arms at the door before entering any GAR Meeting Hall for any reason.     This kept the argument over the Post 4 delegation from getting out of control.     In the end however, since Brayton had a majority of established delegates in his favor, Department Commander Spooner had no choice but to put the matter to a vote and Post 4 and its ally Post 10 lost on the issue.     Brayton then claimed he also had affidavits to prove that Post 10 had improperly reinstated members of their Post after the last quarterly report and therefore Post 10 was not entitled to its full delegation count.