Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1891-06-04
ORIGIN OF THE


ORIGIN OF THE DAY.
How the Observance of Memorial
Day Was Suggested.
The following letter originally
sent to the New York Tribune from
Washington by Junius Simons, will
not be undressing at this time.
As one knowing the facts, permit
me to say that the credit of first sug-
gesting Memorial Day" belongs to
Mrs. Henry f. Kimball, of West
Philadelphia Pa The suggestion was
made by her in 1868 to General John
A. Logan, then commander-in-chief
of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Mr.. and Mrs. KImball were old
friends of General Logan. On their
return home from q southern tour
Mrs. Kimball wrote to General Lo-
an stating that she had particularly
noticed the southern women decor
ating the graves of their dead fallen
in battle, and suggested to him that,
as COMMUNICATIVE chief of the Grand
Army of the Republic, he should have
our heroic soldiers, whose lonely
graves were many, scattered and I'M
marked, remembered in the same
beautiful way. The general was
deeply impressed with lhe idea.
Soon afterward he wrote to Mrs. Kim
ball thanking her for the suggestion,
and stating that he felt that ssch a
touching tribute to his dead comrades
would undoubtedly meet with gener-
al favor.
After carefully rejecting upon how
he should give the matter practical
shape he stated his ideas to General
Chapman, of the Grand Army of the
Republic staff, and requested hun to
formulate them in an order. This
order, modified and enlarged by Gen
eral Logan himself, was issued to the
Grand Army of the Republic as
"Order No. H." and May 80, 1868,
was named as the day it should go in
to effect. The order was generally
well received throughout the country,
and practically obeyed by the Grand
Army of the Republic, greatly to
General Logan's satisfaction, as evil
denced in the following letter to Mrs.
Klmball, dated Washington July 9th,
1868:
My DEAR FRIEND-It is very graft
flying to hear, as 1 do, day after day,
from my friends of the reception Of
my Order No. IL. As you observe
the custom is a very beautiful one,
and am confident that 1t will not
only never pass away from the recol-
lection of American people, but it will
more deeply Ingraft itself In their
hearts, and at each returning ami
versary Of sacred decoating will in
crease in impressive devotion to our
patriot ;dead and the crowns we weave
for them of never fading laurel and
the beautiful flowers strewn over theiI
graves give birth to sentiments of love
and homer which bind the past, the
present and the future in one con-
tinuous chain of admiration that the
life and service of even the humblest
private shall never be forgotten.
Yours truly, JOIN A LOGAN.
I was clerk at the house of repre-
sentatives and General Logan's pri-
vate secretary at the time, and saw all
the correspondence relating to the
matter, heard General Logan tell his
friends aud other callers that he was
indebted to Mrs. Kimbal for the sug-
gestion to decorate our soldiers graves
saw him hand them Mrs Kimball's
letter on the subject to read, and heard
General Logan state to General Chip
man his views and wishes, out OF
which "Order No. H." grew, and dur
ing the presidential canvass of that
year, on which I went with him, he
received many encomiums wherever
he went for the inauguration of Mem
orial Day, and he never refrained
from giving Mrs. Kimball full credit
for the idea, feeling quite content and
appreciative for the share of honor
that naturally and properly flowed to
him for putting it into permanent and
practical operation.
Since then Memorial Day has sill
emily matured into tender and vel
come custom throughout our land,
and has additionally endeared to the
hearts of the people the memory of
that great hearted, brave and
brilliant soldier. orator and states
man John A Logan.
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