May 19, 2015 ••Page 18
Page 18, 2015 Page 18
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The History of Memorial Day
Though many people are quick to refer to
Memorial Day as the unofficial beginning of
summer, the day is much more than that. Initially
known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day is a day
to remember those military members who died in
service of the country.
The origins of Memorial Day remain a topic
of debate. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson
declared Waterloo, N.Y. as the official birthplace
of Memorial Day. However, the roots of Memorial
Day likely run much deeper, as researchers at
Duke University note that during the Civil War,
organized women’s groups in the south had begun
to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers.
Memorial Day as we know it today can likely
be traced to Charleston, S.C., where teachers,
missionaries and some members of the press
gathered on May 1, 1865 to honor fallen soldiers.
During the Civil War, captured Union soldiers were
held at the Charleston Race Course and hundreds
died during captivity. Upon their deaths, soldiers
were buried in unmarked graves. When the Civil
War ended, the May Day gathering was organized
as a memorial to all the men who had died during
captivity. The burial ground was landscaped, and
those freed as a result of the Civil War played an
integral role in the event at the Charleston Race
Course.
While the event in Charleston might have been
the first Memorial Day-type celebration in the
southern United States, General John A. Logan
is often cited as inspiring similar events in the
north. As commander-in-chief of the Grand Army
of the Republic, a veterans’ organization for men
who served in the Civil War, General Logan issued
a proclamation just five days after the Charleston
event that called for Decoration Day to be observed
annually across the country. Logan preferred
the event not be held on the anniversary of any
particular battle, and thus the day was observed for
the first time on May 30. Celebrating the day in May
also was significant to event organizers because
May is a month when flowers are in bloom, making
it easier for observers of the holiday to place
flowers on the graves of fallen soldiers.
In 1868, events were held at more than 180
cemeteries in 27 states, and those figures nearly
doubled in 1869. By 1890, every northern state
officially recognized Decoration Day as a state
holiday. But southern states honored their dead
on a different day until after World War I, when the
holiday was changed to recognize Americans who
died in any war and not just the Civil War. Nearly
every state now celebrates Memorial Day, a name
for the holiday first used in 1882, on the last
Monday in May.
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