Logan's Day

Yellow background. There is an illustration of a statue of a soldier riding a horse in the center. The soldier carries a flag. Brown text curls around the top edge of the button.

The statue of John Alexander Logan, installed July 22, 1897, is located in Grant (Ulysses) Park in Chicago, Illinois. The bronze figure of the general was created by the artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens, while the horse he rides was sculpted by Alexander Phimister Proctor. On the day the statue was instated, there was a two-hour dedication ceremony, gun salute, and a parade of ten thousand marchers. In the evening, the widowed Mrs. Logan was welcomed with a fireworks display followed by a band concert. Mrs. Logan planned to move her husband’s body to the tomb where the monumental sculpture is located, but the move never happened. The tomb stands empty to this day.

John Alexander Logan was a war hero and political figure who lived from 1826 to 1886. He, as the leader of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization for Union Army veterans, was key in establishing Memorial Day as a federal holiday. Logan started his military service in the Mexican-American war before studying law and serving a number of terms as an Illinois State Representative for the Democratic party. He served as a United States Congressman, and then joined the Civil War as rank colonel. He reached the rank of general during his service. After the Civil War, Logan changed his party affiliation and became a Republican representative in both the United States House of Representatives and the Senate. Logan “became well known for supporting the rights of former slaves and of women.” In 1884, he was nominated for Vice President on John Blaine’s presidential ticket, but was not elected. A number of streets and towns were named in his honor after the Civil War, and the Logan Museum was established in his hometown in Illinois.