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Memorial Day is an American holiday,
observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while
serving in the U.S. military. Memorial Day 2019 occurs on Monday, May 27.
Originally known as Decoration Day,
it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official
federal holiday in 1971. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting
cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings and participating in
parades. Unofficially, it marks the beginning of the summer season.
The Civil War, which ended in the spring of 1865,
claimed more lives than any conflict in U.S. history and required the
establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries.
By the late 1860s, Americans in
various towns and cities had begun holding springtime tributes to these
countless fallen soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers and reciting
prayers.
Did you know? Each year on Memorial Day a national moment of remembrance
takes place at 3:00 p.m. local time.
It is unclear where exactly this
tradition originated; numerous different communities may have independently
initiated the memorial gatherings. Nevertheless, in 1966 the federal government
declared Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day.
Waterloo—which first celebrated the
day on May 5, 1866—was chosen because it hosted an annual, community-wide
event, during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of
soldiers with flowers and flags.
On May 5, 1868, General John A.
Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a
nationwide day of remembrance later that month. “The 30th of May, 1868, is
designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating
the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late
rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet
churchyard in the land,” he proclaimed.
The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was
chosen
because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.
On the first Decoration Day, General
James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000
participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers
buried there.
Many Northern states held similar commemorative
events and reprised the tradition in subsequent years; by 1890 each one had
made Decoration Day an official state holiday. Southern states, on the other
hand, continued to honor their dead on separate days until after World
War I.
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So, to my American readers, take a moment on Monday to remember who made the ultimate sacrifice and protected our freedom.
Until next time,
Fair Winds,
Old Salt
