The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1930-05-16

Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment-day;
Under the laurel, the Blue,
Under the willow, the Gray.
From the silence of sorrowful hours
The Gesolate mourners go,
Lovingly laden with flowers
Alike for the friend and the foo'
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment-day;
Under the roses, the Blue.
Under the lilies the Gray.
So with an equal splendor,
The morning sun-rays fall,
With a touch impartially tender,
On the blossoms blooming for all:
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment-day;
Broidered with gold, the Blue,
Mellowed with gold, the Gray.
So, when the summer calleth,
On forest and field of grain,
With an equal murmur falleth
The cooling drip of the rain:
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment-day:
Wet with the rain, the Blue,
Wet the rain, the Gray.
Sadly, but not with upbraiding.
The generous deed was done,
In the storm of the years that are
fading
No drawer battle was won:
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment-day;
Under the blossoms, the Blue,
Under the garlands, the Gray.
No more shall the war-cry sever,
Or the winding rivers red.
They Danish our anger forever
When they laurel the graves OF our
dead:
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment-day;
Love and tears for the Blue,
Tears and love for the Gray.
When this poem was published It
achieved instant popularity, it was
widely reprinted and later set to
music so that its message of recon-
Citation was carried to all points of
the country.
Meanwhile on April 6, 1866, there
had been organized at Decatur, ILL.,,
group of Union veterans who took
the name of the Grand Army OF the
Republic and within short time
thousands of men who had worn the
blue were members of the G. A. R., as
1t became Familiarity known. In 1868
the national commander of the G. A.
r. was Gen. John A. Logan of Iii
nois. On cold, raw day In March
Of that year a party from Washington
set out to visit the battlefields around
Richmond. The leader Of the group
was COL Charles L. Wilson, a Chi
cago editor of that time, and with
him were his niece, fiancee and Mrs.
John A. Logan. They rode from one
scene of desolation to another,
touched by the poverty of the region,
once the proud capital of the Con-
federacy. And above all they noticed
the numberless Confederate graves,
most of them decorated with faded
flowers and bunting, with here and
there an improyised gravestone.
Returning to Washington, the Rich
mond pilgrims went to the rooms Of
General Logan, who had been unable
to accompany his wife on the trip be-
cause of the pressure Of congress
sional business. The war-torn coun-
try about Richmond was described to
him; the rows of graves, each marked
by some loving hand, now covered by
a gentle snow that, nevertheless,
could not dim the tokens Of devotion
left upon them.
"The Greeks and Romans" said
General Logan, sin the day of their
glory, were wont to honor their hero
dead by chaplets of laurel and
flowers, as well as bronze and stone"
And he added that this thought
should be carried over to the United
States. 1t could be done, he believed,
by the issuance of an order from him,
as commander in chief of the G. A. r.
to the posts established throughout
the North.
General Logan Immediately set
about writing the order and the fol-
lowing night called meeting of the
G. A. r. staff officers in his rooms at
the old Willard hotel, Washington,
where the order he had written was
submitted for their approval. The
staff was unanimous in agreement and
not long thereafter "Order No. IL"
was broadcast from G. A. r. head
quarters all over the country. In
part that famous order reads as fol-
lows: