Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-30
FLOWERS FOR THE DEAD
ORIGIN. OF THE CUSTOM OF DECO.
RATING SOLDIERS GRAVES.
History of Memorial Day-Suggested
by Chaplain's Children-Gen.
Logan's Order.

From the New York Times.
May 80 is Memorial day the day when
pious hands the country over will place
floral tributes upon the graves of the dead
Of the civil war. The following version If
the origin OF the custom is told by a vet
eran who wore the blue.
ut was just forty years the 18th Of last
April" said he. Two little girls-children
of a Michigan army chaplain-xere- the first
to lay spring flowers a soldiers grave
dug in Virginia soil. and from that little
act of childish impulse grew up the custom
which is now nationally observed, north and
south
II was a member OF the I'd Regiment.
Michigan Infantry. Col. J. B. Richardson
commanding. which saw most Of the fight
ing of the Army of the Potomac until the
war was well nigh ended. The chaplain
OF the regiment WAS Franklin May, a Meth
odist minister, who resigned his charge at
the first call to arms and marched TO tie
front. There were three Mays in the regi-
mcnt. hrothers-two CAPTAINS and the cham
lain, for war blood seemed to run in their
veins. Three Mays did | say? Four for
there was the captains wife. and no pluck-
Ter patriot served the Union cause than the
woman who followed him to camp, first at
Arlington and Alexandria and then at a
point near Mount Vernon. Viii h was known
as Camp Michigan. She brought with her
their two daughters, Josephine. aged thir-
teen, and Ella, perhaps five years younger.
A Lonely Grave.
"one spring day at Camp Michigaa-It
happened to be April 13 the first annivor-
sary OF the fall of Sumpter-the little girls
were wiid-fiower gathering. Their hands
were filled when they came across a grave
"a rough unmarked mound that had closed
in over some northern boy for whom taps
had sounded that first tNplNpmpufh
oh, let's put our flowers on this grave
cried jose phine. He is a soldier boy
I'm trice the two were down on their
knees heaping nosegays over that hare
hillock and clasping their hands in delight
at the happy coutrivance They must have
had in mind the little acts Of remembrance
they had seen at the gravesides in the
grass-grown cemetery at home
ION their way home the little ones
planned to go next day, gather armfuls of
flowers and put them on all the graves.
When they were about to set out the
morrow, Josephine told Mrs. May OF their
project. and the sweet thoughtfulness of
this child fancy appealed to the old wo-
man as it only could have appealed to a
mother who knew hospital camp at first
hand and had folded the hands of mare
than one young fellow in his last sleep.
With her companion. Mrs. Evans. a younS
Red Cross nurse, Mrs May Joined the GILL
dren in gathering flowers. and tog, Tier
they placed the blossoms on thirteen graves
all that they found Union and confed-
crate alike, among the thousands that later
were to rest at Arlington and along the
shores of the Potomac.
The Custom Grows.
"The next year they did the same thing.
and the next. each time In May. and now
for the soldiers who fell at Fredericksburg
and other battles in the old dominion.
What they did was noticed and soon others
began to do the same. There was oppor-
nm, far oil far aS ha he re,1t ~
graves were multiplying faster than ever
before in history, and before the close Of
the war the custom had spread quite
widely.
I'm 1868 Gen. John A. Logan issued that
famous order of his as comma nder- in-chief
of the G.. A. r. which set apart May 80 as
Memorial day-a date chosen late In the
spring in order to give the flowers chance
to outtiank every snowbank in the north,
however late the spring
There has been some controversy here
and there as to what source to attribute
the honor of suggesting a Decoration day.
Gen. Chapman attributed il to a Cincinnati
soldier whose letter concerning such Gus
tom in Germany he laid before Gen. Logan.
Gen. John b. Murray, on the other hand,
has advanced the claim of celebration
held at WATERFOWL. y. Y. May -. 1855.
Certain ii is that Gen. Logan often referred
to his first Decoration day order as the
proudest act of his life and the year it
was issued the first great observance was
held at Arlington cemetery with Gen. Ar
thur the orator of the day. Ii is equal
ly certain that further to the south. few
years before. those two little Michigan girls
nad begun the decora ton of graves in a
small way that as certainly developed into
the national memorial. Yet far as I
know recognition has been paid To its
girlish orieinators
'Of the four persons who decked those
first graves in 1852 not one survives. Lit
tie osephine May died in 1872 ten years
to DAY from that of the first decoration
Before the death of Mrs. Evans, in lSs3.
Croker Post of Des Moines. Iowa, gave to
her recognition for the part she played:
and also to Ella May. who. when she died
last Year in the state of Washington. was
accorded military henors by the c. A II.
and lowered to her grave wrapped In the
American flag. Olive May. the actress,
now playing in Arizona in England, is a
cousin.
Chaplain May. his wife Marcia. and
their two daughters lie buried in Mountain
Home. Kalamazoo. Mich With the eN-
ception of one year. the chaplain's family
remained with him throughout the war.
Mrs. MAY was called an angel of mercy
f~. r.,lH g., h., 4 ,3ys..