Nora Fontaine Davidson

Nora Fontaine Maury Davidson (February 19, 1836 – February 10, 1929) was an American schoolteacher in Petersburg, Virginia. She is credited for holding the first Memorial Day ceremony in Petersburg, and as the inspiration for the United States' Memorial Day.

Biography Davidson was born in Petersburg, Virginia in 1836; she was locally known as "Miss Nora" and lived there her entire life. With the help of her two sisters, she taught school in Petersburg for 59 years. During the war years, her school was known as the Confederate School and in the postwar years as the Davidson Seminary.

Early in 1861, Davidson headed various fund-raising projects to buy equipment for companies of soldiers forming in Petersburg. Her efforts were most successful in equipping the Ragland Guard, the unit that became Company G, 41st Virginia Infantry. She continued throughout the war to raise money for the soldiers. Davidson was among a group of Petersburg citizens to meet and entertain the first troops arriving there from other Southern states in 1861. One of the graves she cared for was that of her brother, Charles Davidson, a member of Graham's Horse Artillery, who died on December 25, 1863.

While visiting the cemetery, the wife of Union General John A. Logan, observed Davidson and the students putting flowers and tiny Confederate flags on the graves of soldiers. Upon Mary Logan's return to Washington, D.C. and meeting her husband General Logan at the railroad station, she related the story of her visit to Petersburg and how she was moved by what she witnessed there. Upon hearing her story, General Logan, now the first Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), replied to her that he would work establish this custom of honoring fallen soldiers across the country. He issued an GAR order, establishing a National Decoration Day, which was later passed by Congress. Today it is known as Memorial Day. Bellware and Gardiner credit Mary Ann Williams and the Ladies Memorial Association of Columbus, Georgia as the true originators of the holiday as abundant contemporaneous evidence from across the nation exists to substantiate the claim. In fact, a copy of Mrs. Williams' famous letter urging the ladies of the South to annually decorate the soldiers' graves appeared in a Richmond newspaper more than two months before Miss Nora and her school children acted on the request.