Nora Fontaine Davidson

Nora Fontaine Davidson was a schoolteacher in Petersburg, Virginia who is credited with the first Memorial Day ceremony in the United States.

In 1866, Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg contained the graves of veterans of six wars, including 30,000 Confederates killed in the Siege of Petersburg (1864–65) during the American Civil War. While visiting the cemetery, the wife Union General John A. Logan and spied Miss Davidson, a schoolteacher, and her pupils putting flowers and tiny Confederate flags on the soldiers' graves. Shortly afterward General Logan issued a proclamation for the observance of Memorial Day.