Milford chronicle., 1940-05-24
PLANS COMPLETE
FOR DECORATION
DAYOBSERVANCE
.caatinusa mon pipss s.gs,

(cnntinusa fran Figss Raeel
Joseph S, Kinks, Of the Episcopal
Church The band will furnish sew
eral selections prior to the address.
The firing squad, from the national
guard, will fire salute after the adj
dress, followed by taps and the play
ing Of the "Star-Spangled Banner z
Simple ceremonies will be held,
Immediately after the ceremonies at
the Odd Fellows cemetery, at Bar
rats Chapel above Frederick.
Post Commander Lieutenant-Colo-
mel W. E. Lank has appointed COM
nittees to decorate the graves Of the
various cemeteries in and around
Milford as follows: Odd Fellows
cemetery, Old NJ E., Episcopal, IN
ion, Slaughter Neck, Lincoln, Stay
louisville, Williamsville and BaTratt's
Chapel
Seventy-five full years. have pass
ed SINCE that memorable spring of
1866 which saw the end Of four years
of civil strife in America. From
thoughts of war and destruction a
war-weaTy and sorely tried people
turned to thoughts OF binding up
the wounds, of healing the scars
and of remembrance. North and
South, there were but few families
that had not given of their loved
ones, and thousands Of those who
fell lay in unmarked graves far from
the family homes and the well kept
family burial plots The long tren-
ches filled with fallen heroes which
dotted the SCARED and war-wasted
land stretched out in their barren
loneliness in mute reproach to such
sacrifice and waste and to the 1nhu-
manity Of man.
1t is probably true that sorrow
ing friends, singly and in groups,
sought out the graves of the soldier
dead, known and unknown, for the
purpose Of garlanding them with
flowers at a date earlier than May
1, 1855. But the first recorded public
observance of a day set apart to dec
crate the graves of the fallen seems
to be that at Charleston, South Caro-
lima, on Sunday, May l, 1865, when,
at the instance of James Redpath,
the military commander of the area,
General Hartwell, had by orders
made it a civic and military holiday
A formal program was arranged by
Redpath, who is dimly remembered
as an GuthOr, publicist and radical
reformer but who was then serving
as superintendent of the reorganiz-
ed school system of Charleston, and
whose letters to New York papers
reporting the services probably slim
ulated similar gatherings at many
places in the Northern States.
The State of Mississippi held a
more or less general observance OF
Decoration Day-though it was not
so called-on May 26, 1866, which
was also observed by a group OF de-
voted ladies at Petersburg, Virginia.
II is more likely, however, that the
beautiful custom of setting apart a
special day for memorial and deco
ration of graves sprapg directly from
a memorial service held at Carbon
dale, Illinois, on April 20, 1866, when
General John A. Logan was the prin-
cipal orator of the day. Two years
later as COmmander-in-Chief of the
Grand Army of the Republic General
Logan issued his historic order des-
ignating May 30, 1868, as the day on
which Grand Army Posts should
decorate the graves of their deceased
comrades.
Whatever its origin, observance of
the day quickly became national; 1t
was adopted as a day Of remem-
brance by the civil population as
well as by those who had seen mill
tary service. May 30th has national
but in some of the States
Of the deep South Confederate Mem
orial Day is observed on April 26th
and in others on June 3rd, the birth !
day of jefferson Davis.
The Grand Army and the U. c. ", |
once strong and virile, have surrend-
cred to time. Few are left who wore |
the blue or the gray seventy-five
years ago. But the day set apart sur
wives and will survive as long as our
nation lives and men remember. Di-
rection of the soldier observance has
fallen to The American Legion in all
parts of tine country as the represen-
.atiyes of a younger generation to
whom the sentimental values of the
lay have an appeal, and to whom
here are no sectional lines. Ameri-
cans all, honor to whom honor is
1ue.