Memorial Day was observed for the first time on May 30, 1863

                                                                            

                      Memorial Day is a federal holiday formerly known as Decoration Day      

         Memorial Day is set aside for the dead who lost their lives in the noble struggle for our freedom. It was observed for the first time on May 30, 1863, as Lincoln’s Proclamation. It begun as a ritual of remembrance and reconciliation of our Civil War. The date was selected because it was the only day until that time that there was not a battle going on. Since then all the gravestones at the sixty acre Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C., are graced by the American flag, our most famous national cemetery. Arlington National Cemetery was confiscated from Robert E. Lee. the losing confederate general.

       Memorial Day was first enacted to honor Union and Confederate soldiers following the battle of Gettysburg, and then it was extended after World War I to honor all Americans killed in all wars. 

       Memorial Day marks the start of the summer vacation season and Labor Day its end. In the early 20th century, Memorial Day 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 making it a long weekend increasingly devoted to shopping, family get-togethers, fireworks, trips to the beach, national media events such as the Indianapolis 500 and the Kentucky Derby.

       From the time of the battle of Gettysburg forward the practice of decorating soldiers' graves has been widespread. The first known observance was in Waterloo, New York, when a distinguished citizen by the name of General John Murray, became 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, he issued a proclamation that "Decoration Day" should be observed nationwide. Michigan made "Decoration Day" an official state holiday. By 1890 every state followed suit. year. 

       By 1870, the remains of nearly 300,000 Union dead had been buried in seventy-three national cemeteries, located mostly in the South, near the battlefields. The Memorial Day speech became an occasion for the blabber mouths, politicians and ministers, to commemorate and mention atrocities. They mixed religion and politics that provided a means for the people to make sense of their history in terms of sacrifice for a better nation, one closer to God. People of all religious beliefs joined together. The point was often made that the German and Irish soldiers had become true Americans in the "baptism of blood” on the battlefield. 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's oldest continuously running Memorial Day parade, since 1869. 

      The first parade was held In the Southern Charleston, South Carolina in 1865, (freed enslaved Africans) celebrated at the Washington Race Course, today the location of Hampton Park. The site had was maybe the first Decoration Day celebration which had been used as a temporary Confederate prison camp for captured Union soldiers in 1865, as well as a mass grave for Union soldiers who died there. Immediately after the cessation of hostilities, freedmen exhumed the bodies from the graves and place them in separate graves, in the land they died to save.

 Dr. Karl Wallace D.D.S.   

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