John A. Logan Post #540
Located near the “Rock of Chickamauga,” the John A. Logan Post #540 Monument was likely installed sometime after 1908. Information on the post’s activities and on the monument in particular is incredibly limited. The monument contains simple inscriptions on the front and rear and shares its lot with individual markers from a variety of periods.
The post is named after the first Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, best known for his 1868 order establishing Decoration Day. One section of General Orders No. 11 stated:
“We are organized, comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose, among other things, "of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers, sailors, and marines who united to suppress the late rebellion." What can aid more to assure this result than by cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead, who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foe? Their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their death a tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the Nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and found mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten, as a people, the cost of free and undivided republic.
