On May 30, 1868, a stalwart, bearded man of military bearing stood bareheaded in Arlington cemetery. Around him stretched 15,000 graves, neatly spaced row on row. Facing the small crowd that had gathered to hear him speak, he paid soldierly tribute to the men who had died in the Civil War. The occasion was America's first Memorial Day. The speaker was General James A. Garfield, later to become President of the United States. Said he: "Let us consider. Eight years ago this was the most unwarlike nation of the earth. . . ....
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