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Show cTfee First ftfSv Memoriara ft? m V o' r-l.v fi-lir-3tM"asi "Xi Gen John ALoqan V w Jzwi . J , MiVr1 ' jr iff i-. . Lf.r I J A Garfield Et"- 'Xa 'v1-- - nS" ,&sr 1 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON. -!b ONE can Bay for certain PGE&fi&Zgl Just where and when the ;5 raVils if ea ' Memorial day S originated. A recent hls- 1 iHrV 1 trian" Lloyd Lewis, at-V at-V tributes it to the grief Trliili wnlcn sweP' tne nation MjgfS' at the death of Abraham Lincoln. Writing in Liberty Lib-erty magazine two years ago under the. title of "Memorial Day is Born" he says: "Always there will be a dispute pJver where the day began, because the day Itself came from nowhere and everywhere. The greater the number num-ber of claimants for its birthplace, the plainer the proof that the Republic Repub-lic was aching vaguely with eagerness eager-ness to speak its grief after four years of killing. Seven hundred tliou-r tliou-r sand men, Blue and Gray, were dead. "The funeral of the war's greatest figure pointed the way. "Each little fugitive decoration of graves across the land was a Beed springing from ground that had been harrowed into fertility by the Lincoln Lin-coln funeral spectacle. Sentiment crystallized as that burial drama, with its pomp and storms of flowers, fitted into the mood of the moment." As for the various claimants, there can only be regarded the facts of ' LuOJr'observances, each of which contained con-tained the germ of the idea, in their chronological order without attempting attempt-ing to assign any priority to any one. On June 1, 1S61, Warrentown, Va., held memorial services over the grave of a Confederate hero, John Qulncy Marr. On May 1, 1SG5, a memorial service was held In Charleston, S. C, which had been organized by James Redpath (war correspondent and later founder of the Redpath Lyceum Bureau) who was then superintendent of the freedmen's schools in that city. That same year, some time In the "" Spring of 1865, the women of Columbus, Colum-bus, Ga had. decorated the graves of their war dead and the following J January the members of the Ladies' Aid society there decided to perpetu- ate the custom. They picked upon . April 20, 1860, the anniversary of the ( surrender of Gen. Joseph Johnston, . -- the last formal act of the Civil war, as the date for their Memorial day celebration. Montgomery, Ala., observed ob-served the same day, April 26, I860; Fredericksburg, Va., decided npon r May 10, 1806, and Camden, Ark., dec-orated dec-orated graves in November, I860. Up North at least one memorial service was held In 18G0. Gen. John J. Murray Mur-ray of Waterloo, N. Y., and some of his comrades In the Union army are said to have decorated graves In their home oemetery on May 22, 1S08. But even though It is impossible to establish definitely any exact priority prior-ity In the matter of the origin of this day, It is possible to trace a succession suc-cession of events which led to the ob- bphhih'b or wnac, pernaps, may De characterized as the "first Memorial day" In Its close resemblance to the event as It is now celebrated. On April, 1S0C, the women of Columbus, Miss., held memorial services In the cemetery of that town and decorated not only the graves of the Confederate Confed-erate war dead but also those of some Union soldiers burled there. The next spring there appeared In a New York newspaper a brief paragraph para-graph which stated that "the women of Colunibns, Miss., have shown themselves them-selves Impartial In their offerings made to the memory of the dead. They strewed flowers alike on the graves of the Confederate and of the National soldiers." Among those who read that Item was a young lawyer named Francis Miles Finch who was living In Ithaca, N. Y. It Inspired hhu to write the following verses: THE BLUE AND THE GRAY By the flow of the inland river, . Whence the fleets of iron have fled, Where the blades of the grave-grasa quiver, Asleep are the ranks of the dend: Under the sod and the dew, r ' Waiting the judgment-day; V Under the one. the Blue. Under the other, the Gray. ' These In the robingrs of plory, ; Those in the Bloom of defeat. All with the bnttle-Mood gory, In the dusk of eternity meet: i 1 Hon.um.ep-t to .the UitknowrvDead in- ArUrujton. Under the eod and the' dew. Waiting the judgment-day; Under the laurel, the Blue, Under the willow, the Gray. Prom the silence of sorrowful hours The desolate mourners go, Lovingly laden with flowers Alike for the friend and the fool Under the sod and the dew, "Waiting the Judgment-day; Under the roses, the Blue, Under the lilies, the Gray. So with an equal splendor, The morning sun-rays fall, With a touch impartially tender, On the blossoms blooming for all: Under the sod and the dew, Waiting the judgment-day; Broldered with gold, the Blue, Mellowed with gold, the Gray. So, wh&ii the summer calleth, On forest and field of grain, With an equal murmur falleth The eooling drip of the rain: Under the sod and the dew, Waiting the Judgment-day; Wet with the rain, the Blue, Wet the rain, the Gray. Sadly, but not with upbraiding, The generous deed was done. In the storm of the years that are fading No braver battle was won: Under the sod and the dew, Waiting the judgment-day; Under the blossoms, the Blue, Under the garlands, the Gray. No more shall the war-cry sever, Or the winding rivers be red; They banish our anger forever When they laurel the graves of our dead: Under the sod and the dew. Waiting the judgment-day; Love and tears for the Blue, Tears and love for the Gray. When this poem was published it achieved instant popularity, It was widely reprinted and later set to music so that its message of reconciliation recon-ciliation was carried to all points of the country. Meanwhile on April 6, 18G6, there had been organized at Decatur, 111., a group of Union veterans who took the name of the Grand Army of the Republic and within a short . time thousands of men who had worn the blue were members of the Q. A. U.t as It became familiarly known. In 1SGS the national commander of the G. A. It. was Gen. John A. Logan of Illinois. Illi-nois. On a cold, raw day in March of that year a party from Washington set out to visit the battlefields around Richmond. The leader of the group was Col. Charles L. Wilson, a Chicago Chi-cago editor of that time, and with him were his niece, fiancee and Mrs. John A. Logan. They rode from one scene of desolation to another, touched by the poverty of the region, once the proud capital of the Confederacy. Con-federacy. And above all they noticed the numberless Confederate graves, most of them decorated with faded flowers and bunting, with here and there an Improvised gravestone. Returning to Washington, the Rich mond pilgrims went to the rooms of General Logan, who had been unable to accompany his wife on the trip because be-cause of the pressure of congressional congres-sional business. The war-torn country coun-try about Richmond was described to him ; the rows of graves, each marked by some loving hand, now covered by a gentle snow that, nevertheless, could not dim the tokemi of devotion left upon them.. 1 :. 1 "The Greeks "and Romans," said General Logan, "In itie day of their glory, were wont t(j honor their hero dead by chaplets , of laurel and flowers, as well as bronze and stone." And he added that this thought should be carried over to the United States. It could be done, he believed, by the issuance of an order from him, as commander in chief of the G. A. R. to the posts established throughout the North. General Ixgan Immediately set about writing the order and the following fol-lowing night called a meeting of the G. A. R. staff officers In his rooms at the old Willard hotel, Washington, where the order he had written was submitted for their approval. The staff was unanimous In agreement and not long thereafter "Order No. 11" was broadcast from G. A. R. head-. head-. Quarters all over the country. In i part that famous order reads as fol- lows : GENERAL ORDERS NO. 11 Headquarters Grand Army of the Re public. Adjutant General's Office, 446 14th Street, Washington, D. C. May 6, 18C8. General Orders, No. 11. I. The 30th day of May, 18C8, Is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating, the graves of comrades who died in defence of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, hamlet and churchyard in the land. In this observance, no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will, in their own way, arrange such fitting services and testimonial of respect, re-spect, as circumstances may permit. We are organized, comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose among other things, "of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers, sailors and marines, who united unit-ed together to suppress the late rebellion." rebel-lion." What can aid more to assure this result than by cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead, who made their breasts a barricade between our country-and Its foes. Their soldier Uvea were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their deaths the tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with sacred sa-cred vigilance. All that the consecrated consecrat-ed wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security, Is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations genera-tions that we have forgotten, as a people, peo-ple, the cost of a free and undivided republic. If other eyes grow dull, and other hands slack, and other hearts grow cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep It well, as long as the light and warmth of life remain to us. Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains, and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choloest flowers of springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; dis-honor; let us, in this solemn presence, renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a tjacred charge upon a nation's gratl-tude gratl-tude the soldier's widow and orphan. II. It is the purpose of the commander-in-chief to inaugurate this observance, ob-servance, with the hope that it will be kept up from year to year, while a survivor of the war remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades. He earnestly desires the public press to call attention to this order, and lend its friendly aid in bringing It to the notice of comrades In all parts of the country in time for simultaneous compliance com-pliance therewith. III. Department commanders will us every effort to make this order effective. By order of John A. Logan, Commander-in-Chief. Official: N. P. Chipman, Adjutant General. As a result of this order formal exercises were held at Arlington, Va. (later the site of the present Arlington Arling-ton National cemetery) on May 30, 1868, the principal ceremony being the decoration with flags and flowers of the monument to the "Unknown Dead," a memorial that had been erected to the memory of 2,111 unidentified un-identified dead found on the fields of Bull Run and the route to Rappahannock. Rappahan-nock. The principal address was delivered de-livered by James A. Garfield, twelve years later elected President of the United States. As yet the term Memorial day, or Decoration day, had not been linked with the observance, and his address, afterward printed in pamphlet form in Cleveland, Ohio, was simply entitled : "Oration of Hon. James A. Garfield, delivered at Arlington, Va., May SO, 1SG8, on the Occasion of Strewing Flowers on the Graves of Union Soldiers.' The Idea spread rapidly and at the ceremonies held by the G. A. R. in Monument cemetery In Philadelphia on May 29, 1S75, it was recorded that "the annual floral decoration of the graves of our dead soldiers has become be-come a national custom." For It was doing much to heal the wounds of the war and, In uniting to honor their dead, the North and the South were forgetting the bitterness of a few short years before. One of the most significant bits of evidence of this occurred in Brooklyn when on the eve of May 30, 1STT, a great throng assembled In the Academy of Music to hear the chief orator of the day Judge Roger A. Tryor, formerly brigadier brig-adier general In the Confederate army. |