Three years after the Civil War ended,
on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army
of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to
decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan
declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that
date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.
The first large observance was held
that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from
Washington, D.C.
The ceremonies centered around the
mourning-draped veranda of the Arlington mansion, once the home of Gen. Robert
E. Lee. Various Washington officials, including Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant,
presided over the ceremonies. After speeches, children from the Soldiers’ and
Sailors’ Orphan Home and members of the GAR made their way through the
cemetery, strewing flowers on both Union and Confederate graves, reciting
prayers and singing hymns.
Local Observances Claim To Be First
Local springtime tributes to the Civil War dead already had been held in
various places. One of the first occurred in Columbus, Miss., April 25, 1866,
when a group of women visited a cemetery to decorate the graves of Confederate
soldiers who had fallen in battle at Shiloh. Nearby were the graves of Union
soldiers, neglected because they were the enemy. Disturbed at the sight of the
bare graves, the women placed some of their flowers on those graves, as well.
Today, cities in the North and the
South claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day in 1866. Both Macon and
Columbus, Ga., claim the title, as well as Richmond, Va. The village of
Boalsburg, Pa., claims it began there two years earlier. A stone in a Carbondale,
Ill., cemetery carries the statement that the first Decoration Day ceremony
took place there on April 29, 1866. Carbondale was the wartime home of Gen.
Logan. Approximately 25 places have been named in connection with the origin of
Memorial Day, many of them in the South where most of the war dead were buried.
Official Birthplace Declared In 1966,
Congress and President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, N.Y., the “birthplace”
of Memorial Day. There, a ceremony on May 5, 1866, honored local veterans who had
fought in the Civil War. Businesses closed and residents flew flags at
half-staff. Supporters of Waterloo’s claim say earlier observances in other
places were either informal, not community-wide or one-time events.
By the end of the 19th century, Memorial
Day ceremonies were being held on May 30 throughout the nation. State
legislatures passed proclamations designating the day, and the Army and Navy
adopted regulations for proper observance at their facilities.
It was not until after World War I,
however, that the day was expanded to honor those who have died in all American
wars. In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of
Congress, though it is still often called Decoration Day. It was then also
placed on the last Monday in May, as were some other federal holidays.
Some States Have Confederate
Observances Many Southern states also have their own days for honoring the
Confederate dead. Mississippi celebrates Confederate Memorial Day on the last
Monday of April, Alabama on the fourth Monday of April, and Georgia on April
26. North and South Carolina observe it on May 10, Louisiana on June 3 and
Tennessee calls that date Confederate Decoration Day. Texas celebrates
Confederate Heroes Day January 19 and Virginia calls the last Monday in May
Confederate Memorial Day.
Gen. Logan’s order for his posts to
decorate graves in 1868 “with the choicest flowers of springtime” urged: “We
should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. ... Let pleasant paths invite
the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no
ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we
have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.”
The crowd attending the first Memorial
Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery was approximately the same size as
those that attend today’s observance, about 5,000 people. Then, as now, small
American flags were placed on each grave — a tradition followed at many
national cemeteries today. In recent years, the custom has grown in many
families to decorate the graves of all departed loved ones.
The origins of special services to
honor those who die in war can be found in antiquity. The Athenian leader
Pericles offered a tribute to the fallen heroes of the Peloponnesian War over
24 centuries ago that could be applied today to the 1.1 million Americans who
have died in the nation’s wars: “Not only are they commemorated by columns and
inscriptions, but there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not
on stone but in the hearts of men.”
To ensure the sacrifices of America ’s
fallen heroes are never forgotten, in December 2000, the U.S. Congress passed
and the president signed into law “The National Moment of Remembrance Act,”
P.L. 106-579, creating the White House Commission on the National Moment of
Remembrance. The commission’s charter is to “encourage the people of the United
States to give something back to their country, which provides them so much
freedom and opportunity” by encouraging and coordinating commemorations in the
United States of Memorial Day and the National Moment of Remembrance.
The National Moment of Remembrance
encourages all Americans to pause wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time on
Memorial Day for a minute of silence to remember and honor those who have died
in service to the nation. As Moment of Remembrance founder Carmella LaSpada
states: “It’s a way we can all help put the memorial back in Memorial Day.”
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