Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 130, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1913 — RESTING PLACE of FOUNDER of MEMORIAL DAY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

RESTING PLACE of FOUNDER of MEMORIAL DAY

OF the last resting place of our Civil war heroes none is more heavily banked with flowers on Decoration day than the tomb ' of Gen. John A. Logan. This remembrance would be entirely explainable Y W by the circumstance that , T the commander of the W Army of the Tennessee I— 1 f , was not only oo« of the foremost military leaders of the ( Union army, but was exceptionally popular with his soldiers, enough of whom are still living to insure lavish offerings of flowers on each recurring holiday, without any dependence whatever upon expressions of gratitude from a rising generation. However, there is yet another incentive, quite aside tfrom this common patriotic impulse, which goes to explain this exceptional floral tribute to General Logan, and which makes it seem especially appropriate. This is found in the fact, all too often overlooked, that General Logan was the founder of Memorial day, as we observe it in the present era. The claim is made, apparently with perfect warrant, that tiie fundamental idea of Memorial day originated in the south, where a number of kind-hearted women inaugurated, immediately after the close of the war, the prictice of devoting some chosen day in the spring to the decoratidn with flowers of the graves of the fallen soldiers —Federal and Confederate alike. *To General Logan, though, belongs the credit of establishing Decoration day in May as a definite, fixed, annual event of uniform observance in the great majority of the states of the Union. There had been no general celebration and no fixed date until in 1868 General Logan, then acting as commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, took the initiative and Issued an order fixing May 30 as the date for the annual Memorial day exercises and calling upon every G. A. R. post in the country to engage in fitting ceremonies and scatter tokens of regard over the last resting places of their former comrades in arms. It is predicted that ere many years there will be general adoption throughout the country of the practice, already introduced in some places, of reading in connection with every Memorial day program the original order of General Logan instituting this event, which has become <uch an important one on our calendar. Such a plan would, of course, follow the example of the general custom of reading the Declaration of Independence in connection with Fourth of July exercises. For the present, however. General Logan’s recognition In this connection consists in special services at his tomb, and, as has been explained, an exceptional profusion of flowers, many of the latter in the form of elaborate designs suggestive of notable events in his military career. The last resting place of General Logan is admirsbly chosen with reference to opportunities for keeping green the memory of this fiery warrior. The body of General Logan lfes in a handsome private vault, occupying the most prominent place in the national cemetery connected with the United States Soldiers’ home, near Washington, D. C. Among the thousand inmates of the home are a number what fought under General Logan, and naturally it is a work of love for them to see to it that his tomb bears • evidence of the undying admiration of his “boys” of half a century ago. At the Soldiers’ Home cemetery the veterans do most of the scattering of flowers on Decoration day, there not being sufficient children on hand, as a rule, to place blossoms on so many graves. But the posies which the soldiers carry to the Logan tomb are by no means the only ones that come thither on this festival of remembrance. Floral designs are sent from

G. A. R. posts and patriotic organizations in various parts of the country, and particularly from Illinois, which state General Logan represented in the United States senate after the close of his military career. The fact that General Logan’s last resting place is a vault,

thereby providing a shelter for elaborate floral pieces, has also seemingly had an influence in inspiring this form of tribute. The vault is constantly filled with such pieces, including representations of flags, corps badges anfi other military insignia. Some of those to be seen are fashioned from fresh flowersy but the walls of the vault are covered with permanent wreaths and other memorials fashioned from artificial flowers that closely counterfeit nature’s most delicate products in appearance. The Logan tomb is near the main entrance to the cemetery, and is approached through a massive monumental gateway, the white pillars of which bear the names of a number of the republic’s military heroes. Beside the vault, as though standing guard over it, is an old war cannon, and a few steps beyond the visitor enters a labyrinth of low hedge, form v ed from the sweet-scented box. The principal exercises are held on the morning of Memorial day in a natural amphitheater formed by the wooded slope which descends at the rear of the Logan vault. The speakers occupy a rostrum conforming in its memorial pillars to the architecture of the gateway already mentioned, and the orator of the day never fails to make reference to the cemetery's most distinguished occupant and the part he played In giving to the nation one of its most significant holidays. Following the general program special services are held at the Logan vault, these services being, as a rule, In charge of either the Grand Army of the Republic, of which organization General Logan served for three terms as commander-in-chief, or one or another of the associations made up of natives of the state of Illinois. The place of honor at these services 1b always accorded to Mrs. J\)hn A. Logan, the widow' of the general. —— Persons who have visited the Logan tomb in the past and who return for this year’s Memorial day exercises will find one important change in the surroundings. Occupying a site just across the road and overlooking the tomb there has lately been completed the largest and most important building of the United States Soldiers’ home. Grant hall, as the new structure has been named in honor of the Union leader, is a splendid marble structure that will cost, with its furnishings, close to one and one-half million dollars. It Is designed for inmates of the homeland a large proportion of the windows in the big building will command a view of the last shelter tent of General Logan and the floral tokens banked behind its iron gates. It may, perhaps, strike the reader as a trifle odd that there should be need of a new building to enlarge the quarters of a soldiers’ home, whereas the old soldiers in the national aiid state homes in all parts of the United States are rapidly responding to their last roll-call. The explanation of the situation at the institution on the heights beyond Washington is found in the fact that this refuge is absolutely unique among all the soldiers’ homes in our land. Whereas the other homes are supported by the national or state governments as havens for volunteer veterans (principally of the Civil war) when overtaken by 111 health or advancihg years, the institution where

General Logan sleeps Is intended only for enlißted men who served in the regular army and without regard to which war they saw service in—or, for that matter, whether they saw service in any war. Not only has this home no connection with any of the volunteer homes, national or state, but It receives no appropriation from the government, being wholly maintained by the enlisted men of the regular army, who contribute to its support out of their pay on much the same theory that a man in life insurance. This is the forerunner of all the soldiers’ homes, now scattered across the country from Virginia to California, having been established ten years before the outbreak of the Civil war. That the home is a decidedly prosperous institution may be inferred from the fact that it has several million dollars to its cridit in the United States treasury, and its buildings, largely of white marble, are set in grounds comprising more than 600 acres of beautiful land that cost about one-third of a million dollars, and 1b maintained as a park with recreation grounds, pavilions where band concerts are held, and ten miles of graded, macadamized roads winding through selected groves of native and foreign trees and high, open ground that commands splendid views of the capital city. A man must have seen 20 years of service in the regular army ere he is entitled to a home in this institution unless, mayhap, he has been disabled by wounds or disease in the service and in the line of duty. He must also be honorably discharged from the army before he can admitted to the home, so that all the inmates of the institution are civilians.

Marching past the Logan vault on Memorial day one may see Inmates of home who have served anywhere from 20 to 30 years in the regular army. Their ages range all the way from twenty-four to ninety, but more than half of all the veterans are between the ages of sixty and ninety. Several score of these old warriors saw service Jn the war with Mexico, whereas considerably more than 300 of them participated in the Civil war.