Arlington’s history as a quiet and scenic cemetery ended abruptly on May 15, 1868, when Major General (retired) John Logan, in his role as the Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), declared May 30 the first national Decoration Day. All U.S. veterans, from the Army, Navy, Marines and Revenue Cutter Service (today’s Coast Guard), were eligible to become members of this veteran service organization. The GAR became a large, influential and powerful political organization. Logan’s declaration therefore carried significant weight. His order effectively made Decoration Day an annual national day of remembrance to honor fallen Civil War service members. This commemoration took the form of visiting gravesites and decorating them with flowers—hence the designation of Decoration Day. Within a decade, Americans used the terms "Decoration Day" and "Memorial Day" interchangeably. It was not until 1971, however, that the day received its official designation as Memorial Day and the date changed to the fourth Monday of May.
The first Decoration Day on May 30, 1868 did not live up to its billing as a “national” event, since former Confederate states would not take part in the memorialization until after World War I. Nonetheless, it had a profound impact on Arlington National Cemetery’s history. As part of Logan’s proclamation, the event set a precedent that has continued for more than 150 years. Each year, the official start of America’s day of remembrance begins when the president, or other senior government official, arrives at ANC to address the nation and, since 1921, to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Since that first Decoration Day at ANC, the cemetery has morphed from being just one of the many Civil War national cemeteries, to a unique place of honor where veterans wanted to be buried.
By the early 1870s, the rising importance of Decoration Day changed ANC’s status. When the Army constructed the first memorial amphitheater at the cemetery in 1873 (now called the Tanner Amphitheater), an average of 25,000 individuals participated in Decoration Day commemorations. Civil War veterans, who in a time of peace could be buried anywhere, clamored for a gravesite plot at Arlington. They wanted to be associated with the honor that now came with the cemetery’s annual memorialization. They also wanted to rest eternally near their former comrades.