Washington-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.”
