Muscogee County GaArchives Photo Place.....Linwood Cemetery ,CSA Section 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Christine Thacker http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00033.html#0008100 May 5, 2007, 11:36 pm

Source:             Sesquicentennial Supplement III, Ledger-Enquirer
Photo can be seen at:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/muscogee/photos/linwoodc12728gph.jpg
Image file size: 91.4 Kb

                     Women Tended to the Soldiers  And the Graves.
                           By Kaffie Sledge
                           Ledger Staff Writer


  Memorial Day was founded in Columbus by the Ladies Memorial Association. In 
the north it was called Decoration Day and celebrated May 30 because the 
flowers bloom later there, but  Confederate Memorial Day was April 26, 1866, 
the first anniversary of the surrender of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston.
  The Ladies Memorial Association evolved from the Soldiers' Aid Society a 
group of women whose aim was "to perform a woman's part in the service to her 
country in time of war." These women tended the sick and wounded and provided 
as much comfort for them as they could. When the battles were over, they went 
to Linwood Cemetery and cared for the graves of all the soldiers who'd died in 
Columbus hospitals.
  Lizzie Rutherford, as they were leaving one of these cemetery services, 
proposed the idea of a memorial day to some of  the women. Her idea was 
inspired by a German story, "The Initials", which describes the European custom 
of decorating graves with flowers on All Saints' Day.
  Miss Rutherford was the secretary of the Soldiers' Aid and decided to suggest 
the idea to the president at their next meeting. Due to illness in the family, 
Miss Rutherford was unable to attend the meeting but her friends made the 
proposal which was readily accepted.
  Mrs. Charles J. Williams, Miss Rutherford's cousin, is credited with 
publicizing the memorial idea. She is said to have sent many letters to the 
press and other women in the south. From this the idea spread to the north.
  Confederate flags are placed on the Civil War dead graves in Linwood 
Cemetery, in addition to flowers. And a special military salute is made over 
the grave of Gen. Henry  Benning. The observance has been held for more than  a 
century.

Special Sesquicentennial Supplement III 
Ledger-Enquirer, Sunday, April 30, 1978, S-22


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