On Tuesday, May 30, 1905, the city of Ridgeway held a service commemorating “Decoration Day”, a day set aside to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers. Rev. W. F. Kenny of Gilman delivered the address and Elzumer Scott was in charge of the song service. C.F. Hey and A. R. Dunagan made up the committee in charge of decorating the soldiers gates. The program was expected to be held at the Methodist Church in the afternoon and those “who can will go to the cemetery to decorate the graves of departed soldiers”. Rev Powell, pastor of the Methodist Church, preached the Memorial Sermon the following Sunday.
According to an article on the Veterans’ Administration website titled “The Origins of Memorial Day”, Major General John A. Logan, head of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), an organization of former Union soldiers, declared May 30 as “Decoration Day” was a tradition started soon after the Civil War as a way to honor the fallen of both the Union and Confederate armies. The date was believed to be have been chosen so that “choicest flowers of springtime” throughout the nation to decorate the graves and General Logan urged “We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance”. After World War I, the tradition was expanded to include all soldieries who had died in American Wars and in 1971, an act of Congress declared that the last Monday in May would be a national holiday known as Memorial Day.
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