Today as I drove up to Illinois from Arkansas I passed Carterville, Illinois, home of the John A Logan community college. Major General Logan (read his wiki here) served in the civil war on the Union side and is considered one of the best army officers of those who joined from civilian life. He served under Grant and Sherman in a variety of roles, including the military governor of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Conflicting accounts have him being awarded the Medal of Honor, or his son (also John A Logan).
Before the war he was a congressman and returned to office, eventually becoming a senator and being nominated for Vice President, which he didn't succeed at.
General Logan may be most remembered for the role he played in the creation of Memorial Day here in the US. I lived for a number of years in the greater San Diego area and didn't realize that Logan Heights and Logan Avenue were named in his honor, among a variety of other locations around the nation.
He died the day after Christmas in 1886 and lay in state at the capitol. He is buried at the United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery in Washington, DC, the only cemetery besides Arlington run by the US Army.
General Logan happens to be an ancestor of mine, six or seven "great-great-great" grandfathers or so ago.
