The history of Memorial Day

To the editor:
The sesquicentennial of Memorial Day is this year along with the American Civil War.  A claim was made that the first Civil War soldier’s grave was decorated in Warrenton, Va., on June 3, 1865.
Therefore, several southern states celebrate Decoration Day, which is also President Jefferson Davis’ birthday. John A. Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, proclaimed the first official federal Memorial Day in May of 1868.
General Logan is buried at the Soldiers and Airmen National Cemetery in Washington D.C., within walking distance of two Jay County  Iron Brigade men of the 19 Indiana Infantry — Nathaniel B. Maxwell, who died in 1862, and Daniel W. Smith, who died in 1861. Nearly 2,500 men who were born in Jay County, or would later live here, served in the War Between the States.  
This Memorial Day let us remember the men who were honored by their peers after the War of Secession. The precursor for today’s American Legion Posts were the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Posts which were begun for Veterans in the 1880s.  
Jay County was home to seven of these Posts. Surrounding posts in Geneva, Montpelier, Fort Recovery, and Ridgeville also had Jay County members. Jay County posts were named for men who served in the Union Army.
Here are those men honored by their fellow servicemen:
Portland GAR Post 154 was named for Stephen J. Bailey. He was the first Jay County volunteer to die of a battle wound. He was shot in the thigh and later died in a hospital in Mound City, Ill. in 1862.  
He fought in the largest battle in American history at the time, the Battle of Shiloh, Tenn. More men would die in two days up on Shiloh Hill than all previous American wars combined.  
Private Bailey is still a prevalent part of any elementary school tour to the Jay County Historical Museum.  He served in the 39th Indiana Infantry. His picture hangs prominently in the museum’s Civil War Room.
Redkey GAR Post 213 was named for Alexander Trimble.  Captain Trimble was promoted three times before his death at the Battle of Opequan Creek, Va., in 1864. His wife would later create an expensive silk flag for the Post named in his honor. He served with the 110th Ohio Infantry.
Dunkirk GAR Post 289 was named for Benjamin Shields. Richland Township’s private was another Iron Brigade man from the 19th Indiana Infantry, and the first Jay County man to die in the war. He died the way two out of every three Civil War soldiers did — from disease. While some historians call the conflict the first modern war, it did not have the advantage of modern medicines like penicillin.  Farm boys who had never built immunity in their systems died by the hundreds of thousands from measles, diphtheria, yellow fever,  small pox and other catastrophic outbreaks.
Pennville, or Camden as it was known then, had GAR Post 358 named for James B. Cartwright.  Private Cartwright died in Memphis, Tenn., in 1862, three months after he joined the service for the 100th Indiana Infantry.
Briant, or the more modern Bryant, GAR Post 488 was named for Dr. James C. Jay. Jay, an assistant surgeon, survived the war to die in 1881 near Bloomfield, where he now rests in Bloomfield Cemetery.  He was honored for trying to save so many of the lives of our Jay County men in the 7th Indiana Cavalry.
New Corydon GAR Post 510 was named for Francis M. Reed. Like Bailey, Private Reed served in the 39th Indiana Infantry. They might more accurately be called mounted infantry or even Dragoons for the way they fought. Private Reed survived the war and was buried in Westchester Cemetery in 1866.
Salamonia GAR Post 516 was named for Henry McClaughlin, who was one of the earliest volunteers from Madison Township. He paid his last full measure of devotion by giving his life in 1862 in Ashland, Ky.  
Please keep in your mind on this holiday that was once called Remembrance Day men like these and World War II veteran, Jerome Alig, a Noble Township Farmer who we lost in 2012.
Jeff King
Red Lion, Pa.[[In-content Ad]]