Editing Memorial Day (section)

=== National Decoration Day ===
{{Quote box
 |quote  = ... Let us then gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of Springtime; let us raise above them the dear [[United States flag|old flag]] they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us as a sacred charge upon a Nation's gratitude—the soldiers' and sailors' widow and orphan.
 |author = —[[John A. Logan]] 
 |source = May 5, 1868<ref>{{Cite book |last=Woodman |first=Wlliam |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jgACAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA346 |title=Common School Education and Teachers World |date=1891 |publisher=Bemis Publishing Company |pages=346 |language=en |chapter=Decoration Day Exercise}}</ref>
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On May 5, 1868, General [[John A. Logan]] issued a proclamation calling for "Decoration Day" to be observed annually and nationwide; he was commander-in-chief of the [[Grand Army of the Republic]] (GAR), an organization of and for Union Civil War veterans founded in [[Decatur, Illinois]].<ref name="JabbourJabbour2010">{{cite book |first1=Alan |last1=Jabbour |first2=Karen Singer |last2=Jabbour |title=Decoration Day in the Mountains: Traditions of Cemetery Decoration in the Southern Appalachians |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zoiJU8N_M8UC&pg=PA125 |access-date=May 28, 2012 |date=2010 |publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-3397-1 |page=125 }}</ref> With his proclamation, Logan adopted the Memorial Day practice that had begun in the Southern states two years earlier.<ref name="Bellware 2014" /><ref name="Jones 2015" /><ref name="auto">{{Cite journal |last1=Gardiner |first1=Richard |last2=Jones |first2=P. Michael |last3=Bellware |first3=Daniel |url=https://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3685&context=bibliography_faculty |title=The Emergence and Evolution of Memorial Day |journal=Journal of America's Military Past |volume=43–2 |issue=137 |date=Spring–Summer 2018 |pages=19–37 |access-date=May 25, 2020 |archive-date=October 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027055058/https://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3685&context=bibliography_faculty |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hUEOAAAAIAAJ&q=%22for+the+Union+men+of+the+nation+to+follow+the+example+of+the+people+of+the+South%22&pg=PA246 |title=General John Logan, Quoted By His Wife |via=Google Books |access-date=April 7, 2014 |date=1913 |last=Logan |first=Mrs. John A. |archive-date=May 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531181240/https://books.google.com/books?id=hUEOAAAAIAAJ&q=%22for+the+Union+men+of+the+nation+to+follow+the+example+of+the+people+of+the+South%22&pg=PA246#v=snippet&q=%22for%20the%20Union%20men%20of%20the%20nation%20to%20follow%20the%20example%20of%20the%20people%20of%20the%20South%22&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://thesouthern.com/news/local/a-complicated-journey-the-story-of-logan-and-memorial-day/article_57e2de05-b9b1-5237-b933-0d43fb8492d7.html "A Complicated Journey: The Story of Logan and Memorial Day"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907075339/http://thesouthern.com/news/local/a-complicated-journey-the-story-of-logan-and-memorial-day/article_57e2de05-b9b1-5237-b933-0d43fb8492d7.html |date=September 7, 2017 }} Tom English, ''The Southern Illinoisan'', May 22, 2015</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Halstead |first=Marilyn |url=http://thesouthern.com/news/local/did-logan-start-memorial-day-logan-museum-director-invites-visitors/article_4a737820-3cfe-57b8-bafd-02c2d127d0f8.html |title=Did Logan Start Memorial Day? Logan Museum Director Invites Visitors to Decide |website=TheSouthern.com |access-date=May 26, 2018 |archive-date=May 27, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180527023147/http://thesouthern.com/news/local/did-logan-start-memorial-day-logan-museum-director-invites-visitors/article_4a737820-3cfe-57b8-bafd-02c2d127d0f8.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://wtop.com/holidays/2018/05/the-forgotten-history-of-memorial-day/ |title=The forgotten history of Memorial Day |date=May 25, 2018 |website=WTOP.com |access-date=September 17, 2018 |archive-date=September 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918012239/https://wtop.com/holidays/2018/05/the-forgotten-history-of-memorial-day/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The northern states quickly adopted the holiday. In 1868, memorial events were held in 183 cemeteries in 27 states, and 336 in 1869.<ref name="Blight 2001">{{cite book |last=Blight |first=David W. |date=2001 |title=Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3R-yvmpYaqAC |publisher=Harvard U.P. |isbn=978-0674022096 }}</ref>{{Rp|99–100}} One author claims that the date was chosen because it was not the anniversary of any particular battle.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Hennig |last1=Cohen |first2=Tristram Potter |last2=Coffin |title=The Folklore of American Holidays |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rhzXAAAAMAAJ |date=1991 |publisher=Gale Research |page=215 |isbn=978-0810376021 }}</ref> Logan's wife noted that the date was chosen because it was the optimal date for flowers to be in bloom in the North.<ref name="auto" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/photos-and-video/video/weekly-address-honoring-fallen#transcript |title=Barack Obama, Weekly Address |format=transcript |date=May 29, 2010 |via=[[NARA|National Archives]] |website=[[Whitehouse.gov]] |access-date=April 7, 2014 |archive-date=May 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210531154222/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/photos-and-video/video/weekly-address-honoring-fallen#transcript |url-status=live }}</ref>