County: Jackson
Location: The marker is located in
Carbondale on the southwest corner of Woodlawn Cemetery,
which is on the south side of Main Street (IL 13), two
blocks east of the railroad tracks.
N 37º 43.600
W 89º 12.671
Erected: 2001 Erected by: City of Carbondale and The Illinois State Historical Society
On April 29, 1866, over 200 veterans and several thousand citizens gathered at Woodlawn Cemetery to honor those who had died in the Civil War. General John A. Logan delivered the keynote address, saying "Every man's life belongs to his country, and no man has the right to refuse when his country calls for it." This memorial service influenced Logan, as Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic to issue G.A.R. General Order No. 11 on May 5, 1868. This order instructed his comrades to observe May 30, 1868, and successive May 30ths, as Decoration Day by "strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late Rebellion."
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