4th OF JULY
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, good
feelings and a picnic, 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.
