John A . Logan John Alexander Logan ( February 9 , 1826 – December 26 , 1886 ) was an American soldier and political leader . He served in the Mexican - American War and was a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War . He served the state of Illinois as a state senator , congressman and senator and was an unsuccessful candidate for Vice President of the United States with James G . Blaine in the election of 1884 . As the 3rd Commander - in - Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic , he is regarded as the most important figure in the movement to recognize Memorial Day ( originally known as Decoration Day ) as an official holiday . His likeness appears on a statue at the center of Logan Circle , Washington , D . C . . He is also honored with a statue in Grant Park in Chicago , Illinois . He is the honoree of Logan County , Kansas and Logan Square , Chicago , which is the neighborhood chosen to mark Illinois ' centennial . Logan is one of only three people mentioned by name in the Illinois state song . Upon his death , he lay in state in the United States Capitol rotunda . He is the father of U . S . Army officer and Medal of Honor recipient John Alexander Logan , Jr . . Early life and political career . John A . Logan was born near what is now Murphysboro , Jackson County , Illinois . He had no schooling until age 14 ; he then studied for three years at Shiloh College , served in the Mexican - American War as a second lieutenant in the 1st Illinois Infantry , studied law in the office of an uncle , graduated from the Law Department of the University of Louisville in 1851 , and practiced law with success . John A . Logan entered politics as a Douglas Democrat , was elected county clerk in 1849 , served in the State House of Representatives from 1853 to 1854 and in 1857 ; and for a time , during the interval , was prosecuting attorney of the Third Judicial District of Illinois . In 1858 and 1860 , he was elected as a Democrat to the U . S . House of Representatives . Civil War . Logan fought at Bull Run as an unattached volunteer to a Michigan regiment , and then returned to Washington , resigned his congressional seat , and entered the Union army as Colonel of the 31st Illinois Volunteers , which he organized . He was known by his soldiers with the nickname " Black Jack " because of his black eyes and hair and swarthy complexion , and was regarded as one of the most able officers to enter the army from civilian life . He served in the army of Ulysses S . Grant in the Western Theater and was present at the Battle of Belmont , where his horse was killed , and at Fort Donelson , where he was wounded . Soon after the victory at Donelson , he was promoted to brigadier general , as of March 21 , 1862 . Major John Hotaling served as his chief of staff . During the Siege of Corinth , Logan commanded first a brigade and then the 1st Division of the Army of the Tennessee . In the spring of 1863 , he was promoted to major general to rank from November 29 , 1862 . In Grant ' s Vicksburg Campaign , Logan commanded the 3rd Division of James B . McPherson ' s XVII Corps , which was the first to enter the city of Vicksburg in 1863 , and after its capture , Logan served as its military governor . In November 1863 he succeeded William Tecumseh Sherman in command of the XV Corps ; and after the death of McPherson he commanded the Army of the Tennessee at the Battle of Atlanta ( July 22 , 1864 ) until relieved by Oliver O . Howard . He returned to Illinois for the 1864 elections but rejoined the army afterward and commanded his XV corps in the Carolinas Campaign . In December 1864 , Grant became impatient with George H . Thomas ' s performance at Nashville and sent Logan to relieve him . Logan was stopped in Louisville when news came that Thomas had completely smashed John Bell Hood ' s Confederate army in the Battle of Nashville . Logan had been disappointed when Howard was given permanent command of the Army of the Tennessee after McPherson ' s death , and Sherman arranged for Logan to command the army during the May 1865 Grand Review in Washington . Post - war political career . After the war , Logan resumed his political career , now as a Republican , and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1867 to 1871 , and of the United States Senate from 1871 until 1877 and again from 1879 until his death in 1886 . After the war , Logan , who had always been a staunch partisan , was identified with the radical wing of the Republican Party . His forceful , passionate speaking , popular on the platform , was less effective in the halls of legislation . In 1868 , he was one of the managers in the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson . One of Logan ' s leading issues in the Senate was his efforts to stop any action taken to overturn the conviction in the court - martial of Maj . Gen . Fitz John Porter . He was active in veterans ' affairs and helped lead the call for creation of Memorial Day as a national public holiday . His war record and his great personal following , especially in the Grand Army of the Republic , contributed to his nomination for Vice President in 1884 on the ticket with James G . Blaine , but they were not elected . For this campaign , he commissioned the painting of the Atlanta Cyclorama , which emphasized his heroism in the Battle of Atlanta . When Logan died in 1886 , his body lay in state in the United States Capitol . He was buried at United States Soldiers ' and Airmen ' s Home National Cemetery . Logan was the author of two books on the Civil War . In " The Great Conspiracy : Its Origin and History " ( 1886 ) , he sought to demonstrate that secession and the Civil War were the result of a long - contemplated " conspiracy " to which various Southern politicians had been party since the Nullification Crisis ; he also vindicated the pre - war political positions of Stephen A . Douglas and himself . He also wrote " The Volunteer Soldier of America " ( 1887 ) . His son , John Alexander Logan , Jr . , was also an army officer and posthumously received the Medal of Honor for actions during the Philippine – American War . Legacy . The State of Illinois commissioned an equestrian statue of the general that now stands in Chicago ' s Grant Park . Another equestrian statue stands in Logan Circle in Washington , D . C . and the circle gives its name to the surrounding neighborhood . Logan Square and Logan Boulevard in Chicago are named after him , as well as Logan Avenue and the neighborhood of Logan Heights ( aka Barrio Logan ) in San Diego , and the community of Logan Township , New Jersey . His hometown , Murphysboro , Illinois , is home to the Logan Museum as well as the General John A . Logan elementary school , and in nearby Carterville , Illinois there is the John A . Logan College , a community college . Camp Logan , Illinois , an Illinois National Guard base and rifle range from 1892 to the early 1970s , was also named for him . On the record of thy years , Abraham Lincoln ' s name appears , Grant and Logan , and our tears , Illinois , Illinois , Grant and Logan , and our tears , Illinois .