Southern states, on t he other hand, continued to honor t he dead on separate days until aft er World War I. Many Northern states held simil ar commemorative events and reprised the traditi on in subsequent years by 1890 ea ch one had made Decoration Day an offici al state holiday. On the fir st Decoration Day, General James Garfield ma de a speech at Arlington National Cemete ry, and 5,000 participants decorated the grav es of the 20,000 Civil War soldie rs buried there. The date of Decorati on Day, as he called it, w as chosen because it wasn’t the anniversa ry of any particular battle. “The 30th of M ay, 1868, is designated for the purpo se of strewing with flowers, or otherwi se decorating the graves of comrades w ho died in defense of their count ry during the late rebellion, and who se bodies now lie in almost eve ry city, village and hamlet churchyard in t he land,” he proclaimed. Logan, leader of an organizati on for Northern Civil War veterans, call ed for a nationwide day of remembran ce later that month. Waterloo-which first celebrated t he day on May 5, 1866-was chos en because it hosted an annual, community-wi de event, during which businesses closed a nd residents decorated the graves of soldie rs with flowers and flags.
Neverthele ss, in 1966 the federal government declar ed Waterloo, New York, the official birthpla ce of Memorial Day. And some records sh ow that one of the earliest Memori al Day commemorations was organized by a gro up of formerly enslaved people in Charlest on, South Carolina less than a mon th after the Confederacy surrendered in 1865. It is unclear whe re exactly this tradition originated numerous differe nt communities may have independently initiated t he memorial gatherings. history and required t he establishment of the country’s first nation al cemeteries.īy the late 1860s, Americans in vario us towns and cities had begun holdi ng springtime tributes to these countless fall en soldiers, decorating their graves with flowe rs and reciting prayers. The Civil War, whi ch ended in the spring of 18 65, claimed more lives than any confli ct in U.S. Many America ns observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteri es or memorials, holding family gatherings a nd participating in parades. “Memorial Day, originally known as Decorati on Day, originated in the years followi ng the Civil War and became an offici al federal holiday in 1971.
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