The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1891-08-06
ORIGIN or yHE DAY.
i;s.; the Observance of Memorial Day
Mas SUGGESTED.

Was Suggested.
Tn. following. letter, originally sent to
til. New FORK Tribune from Washington
by .Iunius Simcns, will not be uninterest-
ing at ;hi' time:
As one knowing the facts, permit me to
say that the credit Of first suggesting Me
mortal Day" belongs to Mrs. Henry 5.
kiInbaIl. of West Philadelphia, Pa. The
suggestion was made by her in 1865 to
General John y. Logan, then commander
in-cLief Of the Grand Army of the Repub-
lie.
Mr. and Mrs Kimball were old friends
of General Logan On their return home
from a southern tour Mrs. kimball wrote
to General Logan stating that she had par
ticularIy noticed the southern women deco
rating the graves of their dead fallen in
battle, and suggested to him that, as the
cornmander-iu- CHEZ Of the Grand Army Of
the Republic, he should have our heroic
soldiers, whose lonely graves were many,
scattered and unmarked, remembered III
the same beautiful way. The general was
deeply impressed with the idea. Soon af-
terward he wrote Mrs. kimball thanking
her for the suggestion, and stating that ne
felt that such touching tribute to his
Ceau COInfaicS WCulu uuuOuDUCNtS lQCCU
with general 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 him to formulate them in an
order. This order, modified and enlarged
by General 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 into 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 evidenced
| in the following letter to Mrs. kimball
Gated Washington, July9, 1868:
| MY DEAR FKIESD-It is very gratifying to
| me to hear, as | do day after day, from my
| friends Of the reception OF my Order No. IL.
| As you observe, the custom is a beautiful one,
and an confident that it Will not only never
| pass away from the recollection of the Amer1-
| can people, but will more deeply ingraft itself
| i'll their hearts and each returning annlver-
| sary OF sacred decoration will increase in i'm
| prossve devotion to our patriot dead and tho
| crowns we weave for them of never fading
| laurel and the beautiful flowers strewn over
| their graves give birth to sentiments of love
| and Of honor which bind the past, the present
| and the future III one continuous chain OF ad-
| 1nirttion that the life and service of even the
| hJ!IGt,icat private shalt never be forgotten.
| Yours truly, JOHN A. LOGAN.
| WAS Il clerk at the house of representa-
! tives and General Logan's private secre-
| t;acy at the time and saw all the CORE
| eu0ndence relating to the matter, heard
| General Logan tell his friends and other
| callers that he was indebted to Mrs. Kim
ball for The suggestion to decorate our sol
| ti:ers graves, saw him hand them Mrs
| kimball's letter Oh the subject to read, and
heard General Logan state to General Chip
| man his views and wishes, out of which
Order No. 11'' grew, and during the presi
| tici.tii.I canvass Of that year, on which
went with him, he received many encomi
uni.s wherever he went for the Inaugural
ton OF Memorial Day, and he never re
Trained from giving Mrs. Kimban full
credit for the idea, feeling quite content
| aud appreciative for the share of honor
that naturally and properly flowed to hin
for putting it into practical and permanent
| operation.
Since then Memorial Day has silently
| maturcd into Il tender and welcome Gus
| tom throu -hout our land, and has addi
| tionallY eIdeared to the hearts of the PEG
pie the memory of that great hearted
brave and brilliant soldier, orator anC
statesman, John y. Logan.