General John Logan Monument (in Grant Park)

Donated by the State of Illinois, the Logan monument honors a remarkable war hero and politician. Illinois-born John Alexander Logan (1826-1886) served in the Mexican-American War and as a Union General in the Civil War. As head of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union army veterans, Logan recommended the creation of Memorial Day, first observed on May 30, 1868. Between 1858 and 1861, Logan served as a Democratic Illinois State Representative, but after the war he switched parties. As a Republican, he represented Illinois in the United States Congress for several terms, and he was nominated for the Vice Presidency in 1884. Shortly after his death in 1886, the Illinois legislature appropriated funds for the memorial. The South Park Commission provided land and covered the cost of the granite base. The monument was intended as the burial place for Logan and his wife. Although his widow planned to have her remains placed here and husbands’ moved here from Washington D.C., this never occurred, and the tomb remains empty. Renowned artist Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907) sculpted the bronze figure of Logan, while Alexander Phimister Proctor (1862-1950) an observer of American wilderness and sculptor who made enormous animal sculptures for the World’s Columbian Exposition, created Logan’s horse.