4th OF JULY
their deceased relatives, whether they had served in the military or not. It also became a long weekend increasingly devoted
to shopping, family get together, fireworks, trips to the beach, mountains and national media events such as the Wimbledon Tennis
Tournaments.
The fourth
of July is set aside for the brave dead who lost their lives in the many noble
struggles for our freedom. Since 1863 the gravestones at National Cemeteries
are graced by the American flag. July 4 is a federal holiday. It was first
enacted to honor Union and Confederate soldiers following the Civil War and was
extended after World War I to honor Americans in all wars.
July 4th
marks the start of the summer season and Labor Day its end. Begun as a ritual
of remembrance and Reconciliation after the Civil War, by the early 20th
century July 4th was an occasion for more general expressions, as people
visited the graves of their deceased relatives, whether they had served in the military or not. It also became a long weekend increasingly devoted
to shopping, family get together, fireworks, trips to the beach, mountains and national media events such as the Wimbledon Tennis
Tournaments.
After Gettysburg in 1863, the practice of
decorating soldiers' graves was widespread. The first observance of the 4th was
in Waterloo, New York. General John Murray,
a distinguished citizen of Waterloo, was likely a factor in the holiday's
growth. On May 5, 1868, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Grand Army
of the Republic, the organization for Northern Civil War veterans, Murray
issued a proclamation that the 4th should be observed nationwide. There were events in cemeteries in twenty-seven
states that year, and by 1890 every state had followed suit.
By 1870, the remains of nearly 300,000 Union soldiers
had been buried in seventy-three national cemeteries, located mostly in the South,
near the battlefields. The most famous national cemetery was the sixty acre Arlington
National Cemetery, near Washington DC. It was confiscated from the losing confederate,
General Robert E. Lee
The
4th of July speech became an occasion for the blabber mouthed politicians and church
ministers, to both commemorate and mention atrocities. They mixed religion and
politics which provided a means for people to make sense of history in terms of
the sacrifice for a better nation, one closer to God. People of all religious
beliefs joined together. By the end of
the 1870s the rancor was gone and the speeches praised the brave soldiers both
Blue and Gray.
Ironton, Ohio lays claim to the nation
oldest continuously running July 4th parade, since 1869. In South
Carolina 1865, freedmen (freed enslaved Africans) celebrated at the Washington
Race Course, today the location of Hampton Park. The site had been used as a temporary
confederate prison camp for captured Union soldiers. Immediately after the
cessation of hostilities, freedmen exhumed the bodies from the mass grave and
reinterred them in individual graves. They built a fence around the graveyard
with an entry arch and declared it a Union graveyard. On May 1, 1865, a crowd
of up to 10,000, mainly black residents, including 2800 children, proceeded to
the location for events that included sermons, singing, and a picnic, good
feelings, creating maybe the first 4th July Day celebration.
In the 1950s, the theme was
American exceptionalism and duty to uphold freedom in the entire world. 2001 we
were again attacked this time at the world trade center where over 3,000 people
died. We subsequently became involved in many Middle East wars.
Presently we have fireworks, festivities, camping
and so on, in celebration of our freedom and the Americans who have died that
we might have that freedom.
On this day may the sun rise to
greet you, and shine warm upon your face. May the wind be at your back always,
may the rain fall soft upon your garden, may freedom be with you now and forever by God's grace,
Amen.
DR. KARL WALLACE D.D.S. 
