Memorial Day 1915 marked the 50th anniversary of the end of the Civil War in Scott County. The holiday was always a grand affair, but the fifty-year anniversary of the conflict was met with unusual pomp.
The Jordan Independent noted on June 3, 1915, that “… There have been at Jordan, during the last forty-odd years, many Memorial Day observations, but those who remember back for many years tell us that they do not recall any that surpassed the 1915 occasion.” The town brought in a speaker, Charles Fowler of Minneapolis, who reminded them that “Memorial Day is taken as a true manifestation of the patriotic spirit of our people, as well as a sincere measure of respect to the memory in particular of the brave Union soldiers, present and departed.” Fowler praised Jordan, noting: “There were upward of 100 men enlisted from Jordan... few frontier villages the size of Jordan could point to a better record.”
After the speech was a parade, led by Joseph Smith. Smith was a veteran of the Civil War, having served in the 8th Minnesota Regiment. The 8th was, like several units from Minnesota, involved in both the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, and the Civil War in the south. The unit fought in the Third Battle of Murfreesboro, as well as the Battle of Wyse Fork, and is noted for traveling more miles during the conflict than any other regiment in the Union Army.
Scott County members of Jordan’s Von Minden Post #105 of the Grand Army of the Republic, all Civil War veterans, were photographed around 1890.
Following Smith was the Jordan Brass Band, and the Von Mindon Post #105 of the G.A.R., or Grand Army of the Republic. The G.A.R. was a fraternal organization for the veterans of the Civil War. Much more than a social club, the G.A.R. was one of the first organized advocacy groups in American politics; supporting voting rights for black veterans, promoting patriotic education, helping to make Memorial Day a national holiday, and lobbying the United States Congress to establish regular veterans’ pensions. At its peak in 1890, nationwide membership was 410,000. The G.A.R. was dissolved in 1956 at the death of its last member, Albert Woolson (1850–1956) of Duluth, Minnesota.
Behind the band were marchers from the Ladies of the G.A.R. and the Jordan Fire Department. They were followed by the pupils of Jordan Public Schools in a long procession, lined up by grade level. Finally, the citizens of Jordan followed in a parade of carriages and automobiles.
The parade ended at Spirit Hill Cemetery with more music, a church procession, and finally time to decorate the gravesites of Jordan’s veterans.
Shakopee also celebrated in grand style. The day started with a gathering of the G.A.R., accompanied by buglers, a drum corps, and children carrying wreaths and bouquets. The entire group walked to Valley Cemetery to decorate the gravestones of soldiers. At 1:30 p.m. a parade formed at the County Courthouse, starting with a band, followed by the city police and a procession of Shakopee schoolchildren. This group was followed by representatives from labor unions from around the County. The parade traveled to Bridge Square to pay their respects to a group of Union veterans who waited there. The Shakopee Tribune noted on June 3, 1915 that “Fifty years have wrought changes, both in appearance and numbers of our Boys in Blue, yet their hearts seemed young once again as they beheld the honors paid to them and the memories of their comrades that are gone. Times change too, for the streets were filled with autos instead of teams, and there was not one horse in the whole line of the parade.” The day concluded with a meal being served to the G.A.R. members and their families
It is unsurprising that the anniversary was held in such esteem. Scott County sent around 650 soldiers to the Civil War, a huge number in a county that had less than 5000 residents at the time. Most families would have had a personal tie to someone involved in the war. The veterans that remained were aging, and there was a widespread push in the County to honor their memories and preserve their stories.
The 50th anniversary of the Civil War also came during the time of a great deal of national change, as the Shakopee Tribune alluded to in their coverage of the Memorial Day parade. Technology was changing rapidly, cities were booming, and more Americans were working in factories instead of fields. Social change followed, with campaigns for labor rights and women’s suffrage. With so much in flux during the present, many of Scott County’s residents found it important to honor the past.
The year 1915 itself brought conflict. Less than a year before the Memorial Day celebrations honoring the Civil War, World War I had begun in Europe. While the United States was still several years away from joining the fight, the specter of war must have seemed very real to the American people.
World War I might have seemed particularly relevant to Scott County’s large German population. In 1915, Scott County newspapers still carried a weekly column entitled “News of the Fatherland” that gave a summary of events transpiring in Germany. As the war progressed, and with it anti-German rhetoric of “divided loyalties” and “hyphenated Americanism,” this column disappeared. Many Scott County residents were Americans that still had strong ties to Germany, and they might have felt the prospect of a divided nation on the horizon once again.
Jordan Independent, June 3, 1915
In Scott County newspapers, articles extolling the virtues of Scott County’s Civil War veterans appeared alongside editorials praising President Wilson’s policy of neutrality in the war, and hopes that America would remain separate from the conflict. During his speech at the 1915 Jordan Memorial Day celebrations, Charles Fowler noted “We were fortunate in George Washington during revolutionary times, we were fortunate in having Abraham Lincoln when rebellion broke loose; today, in another tense time, we may be grateful that a man of Wilson’s poise and balance is here to guide the nation in peace.”
In the Shakopee Argus, coverage of Memorial Day on June 3, 1915 was accompanied by an article entitled “Memorial Day Lessons.” The article concluded with this warning:
From the lips of thoughtless youth we sometimes hear the flippant charge that the old soldiers are still fighting the battles of the Civil War, little realizing what they mean to the scarred survivors of those epoch-making days. Who that marched with Sherman to the sea could ever forget? Who that came back from the slippery slopes of Gettysburg can ever forget the bloody tragedy… Who that witnessed the destruction by the Confederate army itself of its last hope and stronghold, the City of Richmond, in that memorable April of ‘65 will ever forget the indescribable scene of horror… thirty city blocks swept out of existence by the searing flames while hundreds of hospitals and almshouse inmates were said to have been blown to eternity. Such is war! God forbid our land will ever know another.