Norton Parker Chipman[1] (March 7, 1834 – February 1, 1924) was an American Civil War army officer, military prosecutor, politician, author, and judge.

[1] Chipman successfully prosecuted Captain Henry Wirz, the commander of the Confederacy's infamous Andersonville prison camp, where almost 13,000 Union soldiers lost their lives.

[1][2] While adjutant general of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), he received a note from a friend in Cincinnati.

[6] The note suggested that the United States mimic the European custom of decorating graves of people who died while serving in the military.

[6] Chipman loved the idea, and he decided the day should be late in the spring, in order to make sure mature flowers were available.

[2] This myth that Chipman initiated the order creating Memorial Day appears to originate from the 1889 History of the Grand Army of the Republic by Robert Burns Beath, published three years after General John A. Logan’s death.

[7] It is one of many hoaxes deemed apocryphal by Bellware and Gardiner in The Genesis of the Memorial Day Holiday in America.

[8] In their book, Bellware and Gardiner note that Logan spoke to a group of veterans on July 4, 1866, mentioning the various Southern tributes that occurred that Spring.

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.

[2] Chipman spoke at a Republican nominating convention on March 7, 1871,[2] where he said, "If there was anybody here who didn't want his children placed in mixed schools he had better take them out of the District of Columbia.

[13] This argument backfired when it was revealed that Chipman had sold his home and was living at a hotel, while Merrick actually did own real estate in the District.

[14] Now living on B Street SE, Chipman spent much of his time in Congress advocating for the District's public works program.

[19] When Congressman Robert Roosevelt sharply criticized the District's board of public works, calling it rife with fraud and corruption, Chipman fiercely defended the board, saying Roosevelt's charges were based on willful misinformation and false accounts.