Saturday, May 23, 2009
 
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County namesake's son John Alexander Logan and wife Mary's role with creation of Memorial Day

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[May 23, 2009]  The history surrounding Dr. John Logan, for whom our county is named, and his eldest son, John Alexander Logan, is one that could easily be called the epitome of the American dream.

The fifth of 11 children, Dr. Logan was born in 1788 in Monaghan County, Ireland.

Six of his siblings were born in Ireland, and child number No. 8, Elizabeth, was born on a ship crossing the Atlantic as the family immigrated to America in 1793.

Logan's family first lived in Maryland, then Ohio, but finally settled in Missouri. Logan remained in Missouri through early adulthood. He married and had two children, both daughters. His first child died within her first year of life, and he also lost his wife to an unknown disease early in life.

Sometime around 1824 Logan and his daughter moved to Illinois and lived near what is now known as Murphysboro.

He remarried, to Elizabeth Jenkins, in 1824, and the couple had 10 children, their firstborn being a son, John Alexander Logan.

Before leaving Missouri, the doctor had achieved great wealth. In addition to practicing medicine, he was a large landowner as well as the owner of several slaves, all of which he sold when he moved to Illinois.

Always having been politically outspoken, and labeled as a Jacksonian Democrat, Logan served three terms in the Illinois Legislature.

It was during that time that he met and befriended Abraham Lincoln.

During the 1838-39 session of the 11th Grand Assembly, Lincoln, who was serving on the Committee on Counties, introduced a bill to establish Logan County, which he named after his friend and fellow legislator Dr. John Logan. The bill was approved Feb. 5, 1839.

John Alexander Logan, Dr. Logan's firstborn son, reaped the benefits of growing up in a political environment. Not only was he influenced by his father's political activities, his uncle on his mother's side, Alexander Jenkins, served as a state legislator as well as lieutenant governor for Illinois between 1834 and 1836 under Gov. Joseph Duncan.

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John Alexander Logan was raised going to a country school but also with private tutors hired by his father to augment his education. In 1840 he attended Shiloh Academy at Shiloh Hill.

During the 1850s Logan attended law school at Louisville University, married Mary S. Cunningham and moved to Benton.

His political career began as a county clerk and moved quickly up the ladder to U.S. congressman.

Raised in a home that believed in slavery and supported the South, Logan broke mold when, at the onset of the Civil War, he proclaimed that the Union must prevail. He is credited for giving a speech in Marion that single-handedly stopped the secession of the southern Illinois area often referred to as "Egypt" to the Confederate States of America.

Logan volunteered for military service and became the commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic. He distinguished himself as a great leader at Vicksburg, commanded the entire Union forces at the Battle of Atlanta, and saved Raleigh, N.C., from being burned by the angry Union troops.

After the war, he returned to Washington as a United States congressman.

In 1868 Logan's wife, Mary, visited the battlefields of Virginia, among them being Petersburg.

Petersburg was first attacked by the Union Army on June 9, 1864. The Union did not prevail that day, but later returned and took the city for the Republic.

At the June 9 battle, Petersburg found itself in a rather precarious position, with fewer than 1,000 volunteer troops in the town, and with the majority of those being old men and young boys, it took great courage, determination and a wee bit of tomfoolery to hold the Union forces at bay.

The city had been reinforced by the Confederate Army with trenches dug around it to support 25,000 soldiers. The Union Army measured nearly 5,000 strong that day but assumed they were outnumbered when they began their attack. The Confederate volunteers fought valiantly, all the while instructing their drum and bugle corps to play loudly a marching song, which led the Union soldiers to believe that more troops were arriving during the battle.

At the end of the day, the Union Army backed away, but the cost to the Confederate volunteers was high. With nearly two-thirds of their forces wounded or killed, the Confederate troops could not have held on much longer.

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On 1866, the women of Petersburg formed the Ladies Memorial Association and designated June 9 to be their annual Decoration Day, in honor of the solders who fell that fateful day in 1864. At the annual event, they would decorate the graves of their loved ones with tiny Confederate flags and flowers plucked from their gardens.

When Mary Logan visited Petersburg in 1868, she was so moved by the decoration of the graves that it became prevalent in her mind and was the first thing she spoke of to her husband when she returned to Washington.

When he heard his wife's passionate recounting of the Decoration Day, he was so moved that he decided that it was time for the entire nation to honor those who had fallen.

On May 5, 1868, Logan issued the following order as commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic:

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General Orders No 11.

The 30th day of May 1868 is designate 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, and whose bodies now lie in almost every City, Village, and hamlet, church yard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but Posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.

(http://memorialdayorigin.info/order11.html)

A national observance was passed by Congress that same year on June 22.

On May 30, 1870, Logan spoke to an assembly at Arlington National Cemetery, saying: "Homage to fallen heroes is not an invention of our days. History beams with examples how various nations in various ages have honored their patriot dead."

He went on to say: "Shall we neglect the graves of those who sacrificed their lives to defend the palladium of our liberty, to perpetuate our national unity, and shield our rights forever? ....

"This Memorial Day, on which we decorate their graves with the tokens of love and affection, is no idle ceremony with us, to pass away an hour; but it brings back to our minds in all their vividness the fearful conflicts of that terrible war in which they fell as victims.

"Let us, then, all unite in the solemn feelings of the hour, and tender with our flowers the warmest sympathies of our souls! Let us revive our patriotism and love of country by this act, and strengthen our loyalty by the example of the noble dead around us."

As Logan said in his speech, the history of decorating graves can be traced back to ancient times. It was a practice of the Greeks, Romans and many others to honor their dead in decoration and ceremony on a certain day of the year.

Additionally, after the Civil War many towns in the Confederate South designated their own days of remembrance and thanksgiving for the sacrifices of their soldiers.

But it was the acts of John Alexander Logan and his wife, Mary, who through a simple declaration urged all people to honor their fallen soldiers on the same day each year throughout the nation, that created Memorial Day. Perhaps this one declaration also served in bringing a war-torn nation back to one whole again.

Dr. John Logan, for whom our county is named, did not live to see the great accomplishments of John Alexander. But it is easy to imagine that the Irish immigrant would have been extremely proud of the son who served his country with honor and compassion both in wartime and peace.

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A Brief Biography of John A. Logan

Memorial Day Origin

General John A. Logan Museum

[By NILA SMITH]

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