On May 5, 1868, General Orders No. 11 from the Grand Army of the Republic designated May 30, 1868, as a day to strew flowers or otherwise decorate the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion and whose bodies lay in churchyards across the nation. No fixed form or ceremony was prescribed; local posts and comrades were to arrange fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances permitted. The order tied the observance to the organization’s purpose of preserving the fraternal feelings of the soldiers, sailors, and marines who had united to suppress the rebellion, and urged the tender memory and vigilant care of the heroic dead, whose lives and deaths were portrayed as sacrifices for freedom and for a free and undivided republic. It called for protecting and adorning their graves, preventing neglect or desecration, gathering at the appointed time to garland them with spring flowers, raising above them the flag they had saved from dishonor, and renewing pledges to aid the soldiers’ and sailors’ widows and orphans. The Commander in Chief intended to inaugurate an annual observance to continue as long as a survivor of the war remained, asked the public press to help spread notice of the order, and directed department commanders to use every effort to make it effective.