The United States was still healing from the war that had threatened to tear the country apart when the leader of a Union veterans organization decided the graves of the war dead should be decorated with flowers.

According to information from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, who was in charge of the Grand Army of the Republic veterans association, decided that May 30 should be called “Decoration Day.”

He apparently picked that date because it is a time of year when flowers bloom across the country.

The floral remembrance began in 1868, three years after the end of the Civil War. It was limited to Arlington National Cemetery near the nation’s capital.

The veranda of the Arlington Mansion, former home of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, was draped in mourning, and participating dignitaries included the Union general and future president, Ulysses S. Grant, who led the ceremony.

Children from the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphan Home and Grand Army of the Republic members placed flowers on graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers, recited prayers and sang hymns, according to the department’s information.

Remembering military members who had died in combat had begun prior to that ceremony, the VA said. But most were springtime events.

In Columbus, Miss., a group of women visited a ceremony April 25, 1866, to decorate the graves of Confederate soldiers who had died at Shiloh.

But when they saw the neglected graves of Union soldiers, the women were so moved that they placed flowers on those graves, too.

Residents of two Georgia cities, Macon and Columbus, as well as Richmond, Va., say they also had memorial ceremonies in 1866. In a cemetery in Carbondale, Ill., where Maj. Gen. Logan had made his wartime home, a stone sets the date of the first Decoration Day memorial there at April 28, 1866.

The people of Boalsburg, Pa., say their observation predates those commemorations by two years.

Many of the cities with claims of being a “first place” of a memorial ceremony are in the South, where most of the Civil War dead are buried, the VA said.

But in 1966, both Congress and President Lyndon B. Johnson decided Waterloo, N.Y., was the birthplace of Memorial Day.

A ceremony took place there May 5, 1866, to honor local veterans who had fought in the Civil War. Waterloo residents have said other observations were informal, were one-time events or were events that didn’t involve an entire community.

In contrast, for the Waterloo event, businesses were closed and flags were flown at half-staff.

Regardless of where the memorial started, it was a nationwide event by the end of the 19th century, all taking place May 30. Not only had state legislatures issued proclamations designating the day, the Army and Navy also adopted procedures for their own observances.

Until the end of World War I, the focus had been on remembering those who died in the Civil War.

After the conclusion of the “war to end all wars,” the commemoration was extended to all who have died in American wars.

Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday in 1971, and changed its date to the last Monday in May.

Some Southern states have set special days to honor Confederate war dead, ranging from late April in Mississippi, Virginia, Alabama and Georgia, to early June in Louisiana and Tennessee. Texas celebrates Confederate Heroes Day Jan. 19.

Logan wrote that the military graves should be decorated “with the choicest flowers of springtime.”

He expressed hope the graves would be guarded “with sacred vigilance,” from visitors and mourners who were “reverent” and future generations who would not forget “as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.”

Since the day is a federal holiday, city, county and other governmental businesses will be closed Monday, including Benicia City Hall, Benicia Community Center, Benicia Public Library and Benicia Senior Center. Benicia’s Post Office lobby will be closed, though customers will have access to boxes and vending machines. Mail will not be delivered Monday.

Garrison Command Sgt. Major Andrew J. Wynn, of the Presidio of Monterey, is the guest speaker at Benicia’s Memorial Day ceremonies that start at 7:30 a.m. Monday with the raising of flags at the Benicia Veterans Memorial Building, 1150 First St.

The garrison flag will be raised at the Benicia Arsenal Historic Cemetery, off Hospital Road in the Benicia Arsenal Historic District, at 8 a.m. Monday.

Wynn will give his address during ceremonies that start at 10 a.m. Monday. That event includes laying of wreaths on graves of both American as well as prisoner of war graves, as well as on burial sites of three dogs who were pets of military families who lived in the Arsenal when it was an active Army weapons site.

The Coast Guard Air Station in San Francisco will perform a helicopter flyover.

A barbecue at the Benicia Veterans Memorial Building will start at noon.

Flags will be lowered there at 4 p.m. Monday, and at the Arsenal cemetery at 4:30 p.m.

SolTrans will provide complimentary round-trip shuttle service from City Park, at First Street and Military West to the Arsenal cemetery starting at 7:45 a.m. Monday at City Park and concluding there at noon Monday.

Participating California State Parks will give active, retired and reserve military free admission Monday.