Memorial Day, 1886

On May 30, 1886, a large
crowd gathered at Woodland Cemetery to honor the Union dead buried there. The traditions associated with honoring
fallen comrades, now known as Memorial Day, had begun even before the end of
the Civil War in both the North and South.
Following the end of that war, local observances were conducted under
the direction of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) an organization of
Union veterans founded in 1866 in Springfield, Illinois.

In 1868 the efforts of the national
commander of the G.A.R., General John A. Logan, of Illinois, led to the
designation of May 30 as a day of remembrance.
Serving throughout the war, and being twice wounded, he rose to the rank
of Major General. He was elected to the U.S. Senate from Illinois in 1871,
serving until his death in 1886.

Logan’s
General Order No. 11 of May 5, 1868, designated the 30th of May as a day of
remembrance, a day on which local posts would decorate the graves of their
fallen comrades and “in their own way arrange such fitting services and
testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.” The decoration of graves, often with hand
woven greenery or floral wreaths, was organized by local units of the Woman’s
Relief Corps, the auxiliary of the G.A.R.
Their task was large: by 1870 nearly 300,000 Union dead lay in 73
national cemeteries. In addition to the
decorating of soldier’s graves and ceremonies held in the cemeteries, local and
national parades and speechifying soon became associated with the day. In the
first year of observance, 183 memorial events were held in 27 states. In 1869, the number had grown to more than
300.

In
Quincy in 1886, a Memorial Day Executive Committee was organized to arrange the
local observances. The committee on music noted that the Gauweiler family band
had been secured for a fee of $26, and that vocal music would be provided by
the Bohemian Quartet. Col. W. W. Berry
invited the Hon. J.W. Johnson of Pittsfield to deliver the day’s oration, and
Johnson accepted.

The
floral committee reported that Col. W. L. Distin’s “warerooms” had been offered
for the gathering of donated greenery and fresh flowers, and the Quincy chapter
of the Woman’s Relief Corps (W.R.C.) “would willingly prepare the floral
designs” for the individual graves.
Wreaths would also be placed on the cannon mounted in the “soldiers’
cemetery,” that portion of Woodland in which Union soldiers’ graves were concentrated.

It
was reported that wagons decorated with evergreens would be provided for the
women of the W.R.C. and members of the G.A.R. who could not walk in the
procession to Woodland. The oration of
the day was to be delivered “from the usual point, near the soldiers’
monument,” from a decorated wagon.

Local
societies and organizations indicated they would participate, including several
chapters of the Knights of Pithias; the Quincy Turners; Quincy’s Robert Shaw
Post, No. 232 of the G.A.R. (composed of black veterans), and John Wood Post,
No. 96; a platoon of the local police lead by the Chief; the Quincy Drum Corps;
and the Gauweiler Band.

Upon
reaching Woodland, it was noted, “the civil organizations joining in the
procession will act as an escort to the posts of the G.A.R.” forming a line
“right to front” at the entrance for the passage of the Robert Shaw and John
Wood G.A.R. Posts. These organizations
might then disband and join other citizens who had arrived by foot or in
carriages on the hills surrounding the speakers’ area to observe the
ceremonies.

On
May 31, the local papers reported that “everybody, it did seem, was out” for
the Memorial Day observances. It was
estimated that as many as 15,000 people attended the ceremonies at Woodland,
which included placing of an American flag on each of the “already flower
bedecked” graves.

For
the remainder of the 19th century and well into the 20th, thousands attended
Memorial Day observances at Woodland, and at Sunset Hill, the cemetery of the
Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home which opened in 1887. Attendees included those aging Civil War
veterans and members of the G.A.R. for whom the observance had originally been
intended. Each year, the local Quincy
papers recorded the events and noted with respect and sadness the loss of those
who had given their lives for their country, and all those who had served their
country in past wars.

Called Decoration Day or
Memorial Day, the 30th of May officially became “Memorial Day” by Federal Law,
in 1967. In 1968, passage of the Uniform
Monday Holiday Act moved the observance to the nearest Monday, creating a three-day
holiday weekend. Although originally
observed as a commemoration of those who perished in the Civil War, the holiday
now honors all those who have served their country in the military. Yet the patriotic spirit of remembrance
displayed in these observances is still perhaps best expressed by the words of
General Logan’s General Order No. 11, issued May 5th, 1868:

“The 30th day of May 1868 is
designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the
graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late
rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet
church-yard 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 testimonials of respect as circumstances
may permit.”

“Let us, then, at the time appointed
gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above
them with the choicest flowers of spring-time; let us raise above them the dear
old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our
pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge
upon a nation’s gratitude, the soldier’s and sailor’s widow and orphan.”

Sources:

Blight, David W. Decoration Day: The Origins of Memorial Day
in North and South. In Alice Fahs and
Joan Waugh, eds.

The Memory of the

Civil War in American Culture.

Chapel
Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004

.

Cottingham, Carl D. et
al.

General
John A. Logan: His Life and Times

. American Resources Group, 1989.

“For
Memorial Day.” Q

uincy Daily Journal,

May 11, 1886, 4

.

“For
Memorial Day.” Q

uincy Daily Journal,

May 29, 1886, 4

.

“Memorial
Day.”

Quincy
Daily Journal,

May 31, 1886, 4.

Meyers, Robert J. Memorial Day.
Chapter 24 in Celebrations:

The
Complete Book of American Holidays

.
Garden City: Doubleday and Company,
1972.

U. S. Memorial Day.

“General Order # 11.”