This shot is from Arlington National Cemetery. It was originally the estate of Robert E. Lee, Col. USA. After Col. Lee became General Robert E. Lee, CSA things changed. First his estate was seized by the United States Government. Second, Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs felt that there would be some poetic justice in burying the Union dead coming from the battlefields of Virginia at the hands of Gen. Lee and his Army at the former estate of said general.
After the war the southern states created a day to remember their dead, Confederate Memorial Day. Former Union General John Logan, now head of the Grand Army of the Republic (the Civil War version of the American Legion), decided that the Union should have a day to remember their dead. (I can see Logan's thoughts, "I mean hey, WE won! What is it with the losers having a holiday for their fallen and we don't? Dudes! Why didn't we think of this!") So Logan and the GAR campaigned and eventually got Memorial Day to be a National Holiday.
For my day off I thank you General Logan.
For my freedom I thank the soldiers under your command and their comrades and successors.
Posts
