Memorial Day
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History
It was 1866 and the United States was recovering from the long and bloody Civil War between the North and the South. Surviving soldiers came home with stories to tell. Henry Welles, a drugstore owner in Waterloo, New York, heard the stories and had an idea. He suggested that all the shops in town close for one day to honor the soldiers who were killed in the Civil War and were buried in the Waterloo cemetery. On the morning of May 5, the townspeople placed flowers, wreaths and crosses on the graves of the northern soldiers.
At about the same time, Retired Major General Jonathan A. Logan planned another ceremony, this time for the soldiers who survived the war. He led the veterans through town to the cemetery to decorate their comrades' graves with flags. It was not a happy celebration, but a memorial. The townspeople called it Decoration Day.
The two ceremonies were joined in 1868. The northern states commemorated the day on May 30th, the southern states on other days. Children read poems and sang Civil War songs and veterans came to school wearing their medals and uniforms to tell students about the Civil War. Veterans marched through their home towns to the cemetery, followed by the townspeople. They decorated graves and took photographs of soldiers next to American flags. Rifles were shot in the air as a salute to the soldiers who had given their lives to keep the United States together.
In 1882, the name was changed to Memorial Day and soldiers who had died in previous wars were honored as well. In 1971, along with other holidays, President Richard Nixon declared Memorial Day a federal holiday on the last Monday in May.
Read more Memorial Day history.
Denver Public Library Online ©
Updated: January 08, 2008
