On May 5, 1868, the Grand Army of the Republic
established Memorial Day or Decoration Day as the national day to
decorate the graves of the Civil War soldiers with flowers. Major
General John A. Logan appointed May 30 as the day to be observed.
Arlington National Cemetery had the first observance of the day on a
grand scale. The place was appropriate as it already housed graves of
over 20,000 Union dead and several hundred Confederate dead. Gen. and
Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant presided the meeting and the center point of these
Memorial Day ceremonies was the mourning-draped veranda of the Arlington
mansion. Speeches were followed by a march of soldiers' children and
orphans and members of the GAR through the cemetery strewing flowers on
both Union and Confederate graves. They also recited prayers and sang
hymns for the dead.
Even before this declaration, local observances for these war dead were
being held at various places. In Columbus, Miss., a group of women
visited a cemetery on April 25 1866, to decorate the graves of
Confederate soldiers and the Union soldiers whop fell at the battle of
Siloh. Many cities in the North and the South claim to be the first to
celebrate Memorial Day in 1866 but Congress and President Lyndon Johnson
officially declared Waterloo in New York as the 'birthplace' of Memorial
Day in 1966. It was said that on May 5, 1866, a ceremony was held here
to honor local soldiers and sailors who fought in the Civil War,
businesses were closed for the day and residents furled flags at
half-mast. It was said to be the first formal, community-wide and
regular event.
In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by the Congress,
who designated the last Monday in May as the day for its observance.
Many states observe separate Confederate Memorial Days. Mississippi
observes it on the last Monday of April, Alabama on the fourth Monday of
April, Georgia on April 26, North and South Carolina on May 10 and
Louisiana and Tennessee on June 3. In Tennessee, the day is named as
'Confederate Decorations Day' while Texas observes 'Confederate Heroes
Day' on January 19. In Virginia, Memorial Day is better known as 'May
Confederate Memorial Day.'
