General John A. Logan’s
“General Order No. 11”
Headquarters, Grand Army of the
Republic
Washington, D.C., May 5, 1868
By Jerry D. Corbin
General John A. Logan
A Brief Biography of John A. Logan
John A.
Logan, the man after whom John A. Logan College is named, was born February 9,
1826 in Murphysboro, Illinois. He loved politics from an early age. His father
sent him to Shiloh Academe at Shiloh Hill, Illinois in 1840, where he excelled
in oratory.
Logan
volunteered for the Mexican War in 1846. He served as quartermaster in Santa
Fe, where he learned Spanish.
Afterwards
he attended law school at Louisville University; Married Mary S. Cunningham and
moved to Benton Ill..
He
began his political career running for county clerk and eventually U.S.
Congressman in Southern Illinois. The area is popularly known as Egypt. And he
was “Egypt’s Spokesman.”
At the beginning of the Civil War,
Logan was Pro-Southern but soon changed his mind saying, “The Union must
prevail!”
As a
civilian, he fought at Bull Run. After Bull Run, he returned home. There he
gave a speech at Marion that ended Egypt's talk of secession. And effectively
put Southern Illinois on the Union side during the Civil War.
Logan
volunteered for the Union Army. He rose from colonel to major general. He
fought in eight major campaigns, and distinguished himself at Vicksburg. He
commanded the entire Union forces at the Battle of Atlanta.
At the
war's end, he saved Raleigh, North Carolina from being burned by angry Union
troops. Many historians think him the foremost volunteer general of the Civil
War.
After
the war, Logan returned to Congress.
In 1871
and again in 1874, Logan was elected to the U.S. Senate.
In
1884, he was James G. Blaine’s' vice-presidential running mate.
John A.
Logan died December 26, 1886 in Washington D.C. Here he lies buried at Soldier
Cemetery.
Now that you know a little bit about
this amazing soldier - statesman.
I want to tell you what he is really
famous for. And that is
General Order No. 11
What he
is best known for is his creation of a special holiday that most every man
women and child in America, observes and celebrates. It is marked with back
yard picnics, BBQ’s, and relaxing with friends and family. Children mark it on
their calendars so they’ll know when the public swimming pools open. It is also
viewed as the official beginning of summer.
General Order No. 11 created,
“Memorial Day.”
It was referred to as, General John A. Logan's Memorial Day Order, and
began like this.
General Order No. 11
Headquarters, Grand Army of the Republic
Washington, D.C., May 5, 1868
The
celebration originally commemorated the sacrifices of the Civil War. Following
the proclamation, participants decorated graves of more than 20,000 Union and
Confederate soldiers.
After World War 1, it became a day
to honor those who died in all of America’s wars, as well as those who are
Veterans and current members of the US military.
In 1971, the last Monday of May, or
Memorial Day, was declared a national holiday by President, Richard Nixon.
But it
was President Ronald Reagan who is credited with reviving the practice of
honoring Memorial Day and it’s meaning.
On
Memorial Day, 1986, he spoke at Arlington National Cemetery.
“Today is
the day we put aside to remember fallen heroes and to pray that no heroes will
ever have to die for us again. It's a day of thanks for the valor of others, a
day to remember the splendor of America and those of her children who rest in
this cemetery and others. It's a day to be with the family and remember.
“I was
thinking this morning that across the country children and their parents will
be going to the town parade and the young ones will sit on the sidewalks and
wave their flags as the band goes by. Later, maybe, they'll have a cookout or a
day at the beach. And that's good, because today is a day to be with the family
and to remember.
“Arlington,
this place of so many memories, is a fitting place for some remembering. So
many wonderful men and women rest here, men and women who led colorful, vivid,
and passionate lives. There are the greats of the military: Bull Halsey and the
Admirals Leahy, father and son; Black Jack Pershing; and the GI's general, Omar
Bradley. Great men all, military men. But there are others here known for other
things.
“Here in
Arlington rests a sharecropper's son who became a hero to a lonely people. Joe
Louis came from nowhere, but he knew how to fight. And he galvanized a nation
in the days after Pearl Harbor when he put on the uniform of his country and
said, 'I know we'll win because we're on God's side.' Audie Murphy is here,
Audie Murphy of the wild, wild courage. For what else would you call it when a
man bounds to the top of a disabled tank, stops an enemy advance, saves lives,
and rallies his men, and all of it single-handedly. When he radioed for
artillery support and was asked how close the enemy was to his position, he
said, 'Wait a minute and I'll let you speak to them.' [Laughter]
“Michael
Smith is here, and Dick Scobee, both of the space shuttle Challenger. Their
courage wasn't wild, but thoughtful, the mature and measured courage of career
professionals who took prudent risks for great reward—in their case, to advance
the sum total of knowledge in the world. They're only the latest to rest here;
they join other great explorers with names like Grissom and Chaffee.
“Oliver
Wendell Holmes is here, the great jurist and fighter for the right. A poet
searching for an image of true majesty could not rest until he seized on
'Holmes dissenting in a sordid age.' Young Holmes served in the Civil War. He
might have been thinking of the crosses and stars of Arlington when he wrote:
'At the grave of a hero we end, not with sorrow at the inevitable loss, but
with the contagion of his courage; and with a kind of desperate joy we go back
to the fight.'
“All of
these men were different, but they shared this in common: They loved America
very much. There was nothing they wouldn't do for her. And they loved with the
sureness of the young. It's hard not to think of the young in a place like
this, for it's the young who do the fighting and dying when a peace fails and a
war begins. Not far from here is the statue of the three servicemen—the three
fighting boys of Vietnam. It, too, has majesty and more. Perhaps you've seen
it—three rough boys walking together, looking ahead with a steady gaze. There's
something wounded about them, a kind of resigned toughness. But there's an
unexpected tenderness, too. At first you don't really notice, but then you see
it. The three are touching each other, as if they're supporting each other,
helping each other on.
“I know that
many veterans of Vietnam will gather today, some of them perhaps by the wall.
And they're still helping each other on. They were quite a group, the boys of
Vietnam—boys who fought a terrible and vicious war without enough support from
home, boys who were dodging bullets while we debated the efficacy of the
battle. It was often our poor who fought in that war; it was the unpampered
boys of the working class who picked up the rifles and went on the march. They
learned not to rely on us; they learned to rely on each other. And they were
special in another way: They chose to be faithful. They chose to reject the
fashionable skepticism of their time. They chose to believe and answer the call
of duty. They had the wild, wild courage of youth. They seized certainty from
the heart of an ambivalent age; they stood for something.
“And we owe
them something, those boys. We owe them first a promise: That just as they did
not forget their missing comrades, neither, ever, will we. And there are other
promises. We must always remember that peace is a fragile thing that needs
constant vigilance. We owe them a promise to look at the world with a steady
gaze and, perhaps, a resigned toughness, knowing that we have adversaries in
the world and challenges and the only way to meet them and maintain the peace
is by staying strong.
“That, of
course, is the lesson of this century, a lesson learned in the Sudetenland, in
Poland, in Hungary, in Czechoslovakia, in Cambodia. If we really care about
peace, we must stay strong. If we really care about peace, we must, through our
strength, demonstrate our unwillingness to accept an ending of the peace. We
must be strong enough to create peace where it does not exist and strong enough
to protect it where it does. That's the lesson of this century and, I think, of
this day. And that's all I wanted to say. The rest of my contribution is to
leave this great place to its peace, a peace it has earned.
“Thank all
of you, and God bless you, and have a day full of memories.”
Memorial
Day Meaning – Is A Day of Honor
Here are
some ideas on how to celebrate this important American holiday:
• Send a note of thanks to a Veteran you
know.
• If you know someone who has lost a
loved one in battle, offer to help with a project or help them with a special
need.
• Visit a local cemetery and place flags
or flowers on the graves of fallen soldiers.
• Fly the American flag at half-staff
until noon.
• Participate in the National Moment of
Remembrance at 3:00 pm. Pause and think upon the meaning of Memorial Day.
. Pray for
God’s blessing on America. Ask for God’s protection over all branches of our
military.
Written and produced by Jerry Corbin for his listening audience.
From all of us here at WXED, I want to say, thank you, for
inviting us into your home.
And on this very special day, I want to say, THANK YOU! to our
veterans.
“God bless you all, and
have a day full of memories.”
