Woodlawn Cemetery, Memorial Day Celebration

On April 29, 1866, over 500 veterans and several thousand citizens gathered at Woodlawn Cemetery, to honor those who dies in this Civil War. General John A. Logan delivered the Keynote Address, saying "Every man's life belongs to his country, and no man has the right to refuse when his country calls for it." This Memorial Service influence Logan, as Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, to issue General Order #11, on May 30, 1866, and successive May 30ths, as Decoration Day by "Strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion."

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