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| A Decoration Day card honored the Union dead exclusively. |
Note—This is a semi-regular Memorial
Day history post. It’s good to be
reminded.
Today is, of course, Memorial Day in the United States. The Uniform
Holiday Act, passed in 1968, set 1971 as the year the Federal government would begin
observing the holiday on the last
Monday of May giving Americans a three
day holiday weekend to start the summer
season, to be balanced by a
three day Labor Day weekend in September.
Veteran’s
groups were nearly unanimous in opposition to the move fearing that it would dilute the observance as families planed fun activities instead
of solemnly commemorating the war dead. Several
states refused at first to change
their observances in conformity with the Federal law creating two Memorial
Day holidays. That proved unworkable and eventually all fell in line.
Of course the veterans groups were right.
Attendance at their parades and cemetery services dropped
off in favor of barbecue parties
or a day at the beach. Every year attempts are made to restore
the traditional date, May 30.
The origins of that celebration go back to the end of the Civil War. Almost as
soon as the firing stopped communities were gathering to honor their dead, which in the sentimental 19th Century naturally meant trekking out to local grave yard to festoon the graves with flowers. Some credit
the first organized commemoration
to Confederate widows.
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| Former slaves mass to salute the Stars and Stripes at the dedication of the cemetery they built for the Union soldiers who died in a Confederate prisoner of war camp on May 1, 1865. |
Others claim that former slaves in Charleston, South Carolina originated it when they reburied Union soldiers who died in a
Confederate prisoner of war camp
there and dedicated the cemetery they
created as a Union graveyard. A local
paper said that up to 10,000 people, mostly
former slaves, were present for a dedication of the grave yard on May 1,
1865 marking the occasion with singing
and prayers.
Some kind of local observances sprang up in towns and cities both
North and South. Waterloo, New York lays
claim to the first Decoration Day, as it became known with
an observance on May 5, 1865. It was
surely not the first, and just one of many.
But the friendship of the local leader of the celebration, General John Murray with General John A. Logan, the first Commander-in-Chief of the Grand
Army of the Republic (G.A.R) planted the idea of creating a national observance.
On May 5, 1868 Logan issued G.A.R. General
Order No. 11 instructing local posts to participate:
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| General John Logan, Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic is heroically remembered in this hill top Grant Park monument in Chicago. |
i.
The 30th day 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
church-yard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed,
but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and
testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.
We are organized, comrades, as our regulations tell us, for
the purpose among other things, "of preserving and strengthening those
kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers, sailors,
and marines who united to suppress the late rebellion." What can aid more
to assure this result than cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead,
who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foes? Their
soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their deaths
the tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with
sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can
add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of
her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds.
Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond
mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or 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.
If other eyes grow dull, other hands slack, and
other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the
light and warmth of life remain to us.
Let us, then, at the time appointed gather
around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with
the choicest flowers of spring-time; let us raise above them the dear old flag
they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to
aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon a
nation's gratitude, the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan.
- It is the purpose of the Commander-in-Chief to inaugurate this observance with the hope that it will be kept up from year to year, while a survivor of the war remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades. He earnestly desires the public press to lend its friendly aid in bringing to the notice of comrades in all parts of the country in time for simultaneous compliance therewith…
To this day, Logan’s
order is often read at Memorial Day observances conducted by the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and
other veterans organizations.
Decoration Day was soon observed across the North, and at Union
cemeteries in the South. For many years
it was confined to the Yankee dead and was thus boycotted by
Southern states, most of which designated
their own separate memorial days for the Confederate Dead. It was not until after the Spanish American War in 1898 in which Southerners served in arms under the Stars and Stripes once again, that the
notion began to spread of honoring all of the war dead—although this was fought tooth and nail by the GAR. The South began to share the May 30th date,
but tended to call their observances Memorial Days to differentiate them from
the GAR’s Decoration Days.
After World War I it became common to include
the dead of that war—and later all wars—in the commemorations and the use of
the term Memorial Day became more common even in the North. But it was not Until 1967 the Congress officially changed the name.
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| Moina Belle Michael started the tradition of selling poppies to support war refugees even before the entrance of the United States into World War I. Later adopted by veterans groups not only from the US but the United Kingdom, Canada, and other Commonwealth countries. |
In 1915 Georgian Moina Belle Michael, inspired by the poem In Flanders Fields by John McCrae conceived of the idea of making and selling paper flowers for the support of maimed soldiers. When the U.S. entered the war in 1917 she
began selling her poppies on
Decoration Day to honor the dead of all wars.
She later donated proceeds to French
and Belgian war orphans. The poppy
tradition spread to other Allied countries.
After the relief organization
she had been donating to disbanded after
the War, Michel approached the Veterans of Foreign Wars, who adopted Memorial Day poppy sales in 1922. Two years later they inaugurated their annual
Buddy Poppy sales. Soon no
respectable American would be seen on the streets on Memorial Day without a
Poppy.
These days the tradition of
decorating soldier’s graves is kept alive by Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and veteran’s organizations who place small flags on the graves of
veterans, not only at National
Cemeteries, but in local graveyards as well. Many cities and towns still hold parades,
General Logan’s Order is read, prayers
are uttered, politicians orate, high school bands play patriotic music,
and sometimes straggling lines of
elderly veterans fire vollies of rifle fire in salute of the flag.
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| The Color Guard at a Crystal Lake, Illinois Memorial Day parade about to enter Union Cemetery for the annual ceremony at the city's Civil War monument. |
That’s the way it will be in my
town, Crystal Lake, Illinois.
Oh, and after all of that, a family barbeque in the front yard.
It turns out there is time
for both.
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