The history of Memorial Day

Good read:

The history of Memorial Day : Perspectives : Knoxville News Sentinel

This year May 5th marked the 141th Anniversary of General Order No. 11 creating Decoration Day from Maj. Gen. John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), the premier organization of Union veterans. General Logan, who served in the 31st Illinois, is said to have been impressed by the way the South honored their dead with a special day. He decided the Union dead needed a similar day. He established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country and is because it was not the anniversary of a major battle.