The History of Memorial Day: Sacrifice and Remembrance
MEMORIAL DAY ORDER Headquarters Grand Army of the Republic, Washington, D.C., May 5, 1868. GENERAL ORDERS No. 11 [Memorial Day] is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country . . . . What can aid more to assure this result than by cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead who made their breasts [and their brains] a barricade between our country and its foes? ….
