The History of Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a United States Federal holiday generally observed on the last Monday of the month May.

History of Memorial Day

After the end of Civil War, various communities set a day to mark(or celebrate) the end of the Civil War and to remember those who died in the war. Different places set a different date for this day and it is called “Memorial Day”. Some places who set the earlier memorial day are Sharpsburg, Maryland, Charleston, South Carolina, Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, Richmond, Virginia, Carbondale, Illinois, Columbus, Mississippi, many communities in Vermont, and many cities and towns.

David Blight, a Professor of the Yale University in History Department said that the first memorial day was observed in 1865 by the freed slaves at the historic race track in Charleston. This track was a former Confederate prison camp and it also was a mass grave for the soldiers who died when they were in captivity. The soldiers transferred the dead bodies of the soldiers from the mass graves to individual graves and fenced the area and declared it the Union graveyard. This was considered a daring act by them as they were in South and the North won few days ago.

The liberated slaves visited the graveyard on May 30, 1868 and decorated the graves with flowers they brought. This is considered the first Decoration day. They conducted a parade in which thousands of free blacks and Union soldiers walked.

But officially, the origin of Memorial Day is said to took place in Waterloo, New York. The Memorial Day was first observed in this village on May 5, 1866 and after this, this day(May 5) is considered as the Memorial Day. General John Murray and General John A. Logan’s efforts is considered as a factor in the growing importance of this day and the holiday’s growth.

Many states of the South U.S. don’t celebrate this day due to their hatred towards the Union Army and also due to the fact that only few people of the army were buried in the South U.S.

Though initially it was being called as “Decoration Day”, an alternative name- Memorial Day was first used in the year 1882 but it didn’t become very common instantly. After the World War II, on June 28, 1968, a bill by name Uniform Holidays Bill was passed by the United States Congress to rename it. The date was moved three days from the initial date to make it come on Monday so that people get to enjoy a continuous three day holiday.