An Official Invitation and Program For the First Memorial Day

The Gettysburg Address was read and there were “children strewing flowers upon the graves along the line of march as they pass.” .

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It was issued to Congressman Addison H. Laflin  

After the Civil War, there was a growing movement to honor the vast numbers of war dead. General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic (the organization of Union war veterans), responded to this. On May 5, 1868, in...

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An Official Invitation and Program For the First Memorial Day

The Gettysburg Address was read and there were “children strewing flowers upon the graves along the line of march as they pass.” .

It was issued to Congressman Addison H. Laflin
 

After the Civil War, there was a growing movement to honor the vast numbers of war dead. General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic (the organization of Union war veterans), responded to this. On May 5, 1868, in General Order # 11, he officially proclaimed May 30 as a day to be observed throughout the country to decorate the graves of the Union fallen with flowers. This day would be celebrated annually thereafter as Decoration Day. The name for this holiday evolved into Memorial Day after World War II, although that name was not officially adopted until 1967.

Congressman Addison H. Laflin of New York was one of those officially invited to the first ceremonies, and this is his invitation. The first page, with its black border, states: “Washington, D.C., Wednesday, May 27, 1868. You are cordially invited to attend the ceremonies of Decorating the Graves of Union Dead, on Saturday, 30th instance, at one o’clock p.m., at the National Cemetery, Arlington.” It was signed “N.P. Chipman, Chairman Committee of Arrangements.” Chipman was an officer in the war, and the lawyer who had successfully prosecuted the infamous commander of Andersonville prison, Henry Wirz. Arlington was, of course, the former home of Robert E. Lee, which had been converted into a cemetery for the Union dead.

The program is printed on the inside. The words “In Memorium” appear at the top in large letters. The general order was read, a prayer was given and hymn sung. Then future President James A. Garfield gave the main oration. A procession followed, with “children strewing flowers upon the graves along the line of march as they pass.” The tomb of the unknown soldier was then decorated, after which Congressman Halbert Paine read Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. At the end, a site of guns was fired and the Star Bangled Banner played. This shows quite graphically that even immediately afterwards, the Gettysburg Address was recognized as conveying the central theme of the war.

This is the only invitation/program to the first Decoration Day/Memorial Day that we can recall seeing.

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