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.”
