Words from General Order Number 11 of the Grand Army of the Republic, Maj Gen. John A. Logan.

“For this is why we have Memorial Day.  The 30th Day of May is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion. Their Soldier lives were reveille of freedom to a race in chains and their deaths a tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graces with sacred vigilance.  Let no vandalism or avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to coming generations that we as a people have forgotten the cost of a free and undivided republic.”