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 TRUE
STORIES: The History of Memorial Day
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday that is observed on the final
Monday of May (observed this year on 2007-05-28). It was formerly known as
Decoration Day. This holiday commemorates U.S. men and women who have died in
military service to their country. It began first to honor Union soldiers who
died during the American Civil War. After World War I, it expanded to include
those who died in any war or military action. One of the longest standing
traditions is the running of the Indianapolis 500, which has been held in
conjunction with Memorial Day since 1911.
History
Following the end of the Civil War, many communities set aside a day to mark the
end of the war or as a memorial to those who had died. Some of the early cities
creating a memorial day include Charleston, South Carolina; Boalsburg,
Pennsylvania; Richmond, Virginia; Carbondale, Illinois; Columbus, Mississippi;
many communities in Vermont, and some two dozen other cities and towns. These
observances eventually coalesced around Decoration Day, honoring the Union dead,
and the several Confederate Memorial Days.
According to Professor David Blight of the Yale University History Department,
the first memorial day was observed in 1865 by liberated slaves at the historic
race track in Charleston. The site was a former Confederate prison camp as well
as a mass grave for Union soldiers who had died while captive. A parade with
thousands of freed blacks and Union soldiers was followed by patriotic singing
and a picnic.
The official birthplace of Memorial Day is Waterloo, New York. The village was
credited with being the birthplace because it observed the day on May 5, 1866,
and each year thereafter, and because it is likely that the friendship of
General John Murray, a distinguished citizen of Waterloo, and General John A.
Logan, who led the call for the day to be observed each year and helped spread
the event nationwide, was a key factor in its growth.
General Logan had been impressed by the way the South honored their dead with a
special day and decided the Union needed a similar day. Reportedly, Logan said
that it was most fitting; that the ancients, especially the Greeks, had honored
their dead, particularly their heroes, by chaplets of laurel and flowers, and
that he intended to issue an order designating a day for decorating the grave of
every soldier in the land, and if he could he would have made it a holiday.
Logan had been the principal speaker in a citywide memorial observation on April
29, 1866, at a cemetery in Carbondale, Illinois, an event that likely gave him
the idea to make it a national holiday. On May 5, 1868, in his capacity as
commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, a veterans' organization,
Logan issued a proclamation that "Decoration Day" be observed nationwide. It was
observed for the first time on May 30 of the same year; the date was chosen
because it was not the anniversary of a battle. The tombs of fallen Union
soldiers were decorated in remembrance of this day.
Many of the states of the U.S. South refused to celebrate Decoration Day, due to
lingering hostility towards the Union Army and also because there were very few
veterans of the Union Army who lived in the South. Many Southern States did not
recognize Memorial Day until after World War I since many veterans of World War
I were from the south, although they continued to have a separate Confederate
Memorial Day, with the date varying from state to state. A notable exception was
Columbus, Mississippi, which in its 1866 Decoration Day commemorated both the
Union and Confederate casualties buried in its cemetery.
The alternative name of "Memorial Day" was first used in 1882, but did not
become more common until after World War II, and was not declared the official
name by Federal law until 1967. On June 28, 1968, the United States Congress
passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, which moved four holidays from their
traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient
three-day weekend. The holidays included Washington's Birthday (which evolved
into Presidents' Day), Columbus Day, Veterans Day, and Memorial Day. The change
moved Memorial Day from its traditional May 30 date to the last Monday in May.
The law took effect at the federal level in 1971. After some initial confusion
and unwillingness to comply at the state level, all fifty states adopted the
measure within a few years, although Veterans Day was eventually changed back to
its traditional date. Ironically, most corporate businesses no longer close on
Columbus Day or Veterans Day, and an increasing number are staying open on
President's Day as well. Many believe that the reason the holiday has endured as
one where most businesses stayed closed has to do with it's popularity as
marking the beginning of the "summer vacation season" (similar to Victoria Day
in neighboring Canada, which occurs on the prior Monday).
Given its origins in the American Civil War, Memorial Day is not a holiday
outside the United States. Countries of the Commonwealth, as well as France and
Belgium, honor members of the military who died in war on or around Remembrance
Day (November 11), which has its origin in World War I. The United States uses
that date as Veterans Day (formerly Armistice Day) and honors all veterans,
living and dead. In Ireland, the National Day of Commemoration commemorates all
Irish men and women who died in past wars or on service with the United Nations.
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