Editing Memorial Day (section)

=== Columbus, Georgia ===
{{Quote box
 |quote  = . . . [W]e can keep alive the memory of debt we owe them by dedicating
at least one day in the year, by embellishing their humble graves with
flowers, therefore we beg the assistance of the press and the ladies
throughout the South to help us in the effort to set apart a certain day
to be observed, from the [[Potomac River|Potomac]] to the [[Rio Grande]] and be handed
down through time as a religious custom of the country, to wreathe the
graves of our martyred dead with flowers. . . Let the soldiers’ graves,
for that day at least, be the Southern [[Mecca]], to whose shrine her
sorrowing women, like pilgrims, may annually bring their grateful
hearts and floral offerings. . . 
 |author = —[[Mary Ann Williams]] 
 |source = March 11, 1866<ref name="auto" />
 |width  = 33%
 |align  = right
}}

The [[United States National Cemetery System|National Cemetery Administration]], a division of the [[United States Department of Veterans Affairs|Department of Veterans Affairs]],<ref name=":0" /> and scholars attribute the beginning of a Memorial Day practice in [[The Southern United States|the South]] to a group of women of [[Columbus, Georgia]].<ref name="Bellware 2014" /><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CVXUcyJlgLkC&pg=PA190 |title=The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History |first1=Gary W. |last1=Gallagher |first2=Alan T. |last2=Nolan |date=2000 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=9780253109026 |access-date=May 25, 2020 |via=Google Books }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P9t-CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT26|title=No Holier Spot of Ground: Confederate Monuments & Cemeteries of South Carolina|first=Kristina Dunn|last=Johnson|date=2009|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=9781614232827|access-date=May 25, 2020 |via=Google Books }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CyQF6pKZ61YC&pg=PA103|title=Mystic Chords of Memory: The Transformation of Tradition in American Culture|first=Michael|last=Kammen|date= 2011|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=9780307761408|access-date=May 25, 2020|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://thesouthern.com/news/local/a-complicated-journey-the-story-of-logan-and-memorial-day/article_57e2de05-b9b1-5237-b933-0d43fb8492d7.html |title=A 'complicated' journey: The story of Logan and Memorial Day |first=Tom |last=English |website=The Southern |date=May 22, 2015 |access-date=May 25, 2020 |archive-date=May 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531181237/https://thesouthern.com/news/local/a-complicated-journey-the-story-of-logan-and-memorial-day/article_57e2de05-b9b1-5237-b933-0d43fb8492d7.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hUEOAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA246 |title=Mrs. Logan's Memoirs |page=246 |via=Google Books |access-date=April 7, 2014 |date=1913 |last=Logan|first=Mrs. John A. }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/us/many-claim-to-be-memorial-day-birthplace.html |title=Birthplace of Memorial Day? That Depends Where You're From |date=May 27, 2012 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=February 27, 2017 |archive-date=June 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170617112424/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/us/many-claim-to-be-memorial-day-birthplace.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The women were the [[Ladies' Memorial Association|Ladies Memorial Association]] of Columbus. They were represented by [[Mary Ann Williams]] (Mrs. Charles J. Williams) who as association secretary wrote an [[open letter]] to the press on March 11, 1866<ref name="auto" /> asking for assistance in establishing an annual holiday to decorate the graves of soldiers throughout the South.<ref name="Jones 2015">{{cite news |last=Jones |first=Michael |title=Memorial Day's Roots Traced to Georgia |url=http://www.nwherald.com/2015/05/21/guest-view-memorial-days-roots-traced-to-georgia/a6p06gb/ |newspaper=Northwest Herald |date=May 23, 2015 |access-date=May 10, 2016 |archive-date=June 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603170409/http://www.nwherald.com/2015/05/21/guest-view-memorial-days-roots-traced-to-georgia/a6p06gb/ |url-status=live }}</ref>  The letter was reprinted in several southern states and the plans were noted in newspapers in [[Northern United States|the North]]. The date of April 26 was chosen, which corresponded with the end date of the war with the [[Bennett Place|surrender agreement]] between Generals [[Joseph E. Johnston|Johnston]] and [[William Tecumseh Sherman|Sherman]] in 1865.<ref name="auto" />

The holiday was observed in Atlanta, Augusta, Macon, Columbus and elsewhere in Georgia as well as Montgomery, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; Louisville, Kentucky; New Orleans, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi, and across the South.<ref name="Bellware 2014" />  In some cities, mostly in Virginia, other dates in May and June were observed. General John Logan commented on the observances in a speech to veterans on July 4, 1866, in [[Salem, Illinois]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/05/26/contested-confederate-roots-memorial-day/ |title=Memorial Day's Confederate Roots: Who Really Invented the Holiday? |last=Brockell |first=Gillian |date=May 27, 2019 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=October 9, 2019 |archive-date=June 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609080226/https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/05/26/contested-confederate-roots-memorial-day/ |url-status=live }}</ref> After General Logan's General Order No. 11 to the [[Grand Army of the Republic]] to observe May 30, 1868, the earlier version of the holiday began to be referred to as [[Confederate Memorial Day]].<ref name="Bellware 2014" />