Soon after the conclusion of the Civil War, cities and towns took to decorating the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers and flags. In May 1868, General John A. Logan, who was the second Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic from 1868 to 1871 and a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the U.S. after the war, designated the 30th of May to be a nationwide day of remembrance. Known as Decoration Day, northern states continued the tradition, and by 1890 they all had declared it a state holiday. Following WWI, the tradition grew and remembrances for all war dead became the norm. In 1971, Congress changed the observance from May 30 to the last Monday in May and declared it officially as “Memorial Day.”
The newspaper clipping is from the “Littleton Guidon” 3 June 1899 relating how Littleton observed the early holiday. The photos are of the G.A.R. (Civil War fraternal organization) soldiers on parade and the ceremony at Westlawn Cemetery in 2019.
