A Brief History of Memorial Day

After the end of the Civil War, people wanted to commemorate those who died in battle. Since the war took more lives than any other in US history (around 625,000 deaths total, or about 2% of the population) basically everyone was afflicted with loss. They brought flowers and gifts to graves, but that’s not the same as remembering all the lost lives as a nation. So, by the late 1860s, towns and cities began holding springtime tributes to the fallen soldiers. In 1865, General John A Logan, leader of the Northern Civil War Veterans organization, called for the nation to observe Decoration Day (that’s what it was originally called) together. That year, for the first time, Decoration Day was observed on the 30th of May. Why the 30th? Well, they didn’t want to pick a date that had any specific battle attached to it. And the 30th worked. At this first celebration, Logan gave a speech in Arlington Cemetery and over 5,000 people attended to decorate the graves and memorials. Events were held in 183 cemeteries that first year, a number which nearly doubled the next and by 1890, every northern state had made Decoration Day an official state holiday.

The southern states had many memorial days, which ranged from late April until mid-June. Around 1890, people wanted to honor all the soldiers lost, not just a brother or father. And by 1916, Jefferson Davis’s birthday, June 3rd, was observed as a holiday in 10 states. However, due to the onset of another larger war, the nation came together.

During the First World War, Decoration Day made the shift to be known as Memorial Day, as we found ourselves in another major conflict that extended far beyond our borders. (During World War I we suffered the third highest mortality rates in US history.) No longer was the holiday specifically for those lost in the Civil War, but instead, in all wars. For decades, Memorial Day was celebrated on the 30th of May, in keeping with the first Decoration Day, but in 1968, congressed passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act so that all federal employees could have a 3 day weekend. (This law also declared Memorial Day as a federal holiday, going into effect in 1971.)

Sadly, Memorial Days of late seem to have lost some of their original meaning. Sure, we still decorate graves and memorials, we have large parades that showcase veterans, but it’s also become known as the start of summer. Now, the holiday is often acknowledged simply as a three-day weekend jam-packed with BBQs and boating trips with little more than a head nod by many to the lives that were lost for America.