Washington D.C.’s Logan Circle features a statue of Maj. Gen. John Alexander Logan and his horse, Slasher. As commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, Logan issued General Order No. 11, declaring May 30, 1868, as “designated 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.”
Logan didn’t conceive of the concept of decorating the graves of the Civil War fallen, but this order, and the high esteem in which he was held by his fellow Americans, were instrumental in establishing Memorial Day as a national holiday.
Logan’s bravery as a Union general is legendary. “He was in 15 different battles in five campaigns. Just to show you how successful he was, in three of those campaigns the result was the capture of the opposing Confederate armies,” said Civil War historian Gary Ecelbarger, at a 2017 Memorial Day event in Logan Circle attended by this writer. “He was fearless. He was shot six times in a two and a half year period. Three times in an hour on just one battlefield. The impression he left on his men was indelible.”
During his remarks, Ecelbarger quoted a fellow general describing the impact Logan had on his men: “When General Grant would ride down our line, he commanded the most thorough respect and confidence from all of us. And it was the same when General Sherman rode down our line. But when General Logan rode down our line, every voice was heard in a shout. He seemed to have the power to awaken the enthusiasm in the troops that no other officer in our army seemed to possess. He could stir up their blood in battle. The manner in which he sat his horse, the manner in which he held his hat, seemed to call out of the men every particle of fight that was in them.”
Before the war, Logan was well known for sponsoring legislation prohibiting free blacks from migrating to his native Illinois. He also opposed and campaigned against Lincoln. But “something happened during the war,” said Ecelbarger, author of the biography Black Jack Logan: An Extraordinary Life in Peace and War.
“Before the war, he was giving speeches and campaigning with Stephen Douglas. After the war, he was giving speeches and campaigning with Frederick Douglass. And Frederick Douglass supported Logan’s presidential bid in 1884, saying that Logan had a backbone ‘as sturdy as the Brooklyn Bridge.’”
In 1885, Logan lived on what was then called Iowa Circle. He had just won election to his third U.S. Senate term, as a Republican. That year, said Ecelbarger, “on the night of June 12, this circle was packed with about 3,000 – 5,000 people of color who serenaded Logan throughout the evening and into the night, including dignitaries and a military band. And shortly after 10 o’clock, Logan appeared on the upper piazza to address the crowd.”
Logan spoke for 30 to 45 minutes. He then invited everyone to come into his house so he could thank them personally.
“Over 1,000 African Americans took him up on his offer, and lined up in front of that house until the early morning hours of June 13,” said Ecelbarger. “They filed through one at a time as Logan shook hands with them in that hallway as they passed through the parlors and out the back door. And at that moment, the Saul-to-Paul conversion of ‘Black Jack Logan’ was complete.”
Logan died on Dec. 26, 1886. In 1930, Iowa Circle was renamed as Logan Circle, where a commemoration and wreath-laying occur each Memorial Day.
John Kartch (@JohnKartch) is vice president for communications at Americans for Tax Reform.
