In commemoration of Memorial Day, Lila D. Bunch’s Ashley
Layhew has compiled this quick history of the Memorial Day holiday.
The Civil War changed so many things about the country and
its history, and created Memorial Day. The holiday began as Decoration
Day, and was celebrated in the South by communities. It wasn't a widely
recognized holiday until 1868. Families across the country faced the
realities of the war in their daily lives, and mourned as they could. In
places where battles had been fought, the brutalities of the war were even more
obvious. Places that once had been farms were now unmarked
cemeteries. In total, about 2% of the country's population died in just
four years. Roughly 620,000 soldiers died in just four years of
fighting. In comparison, American deaths in every other war from the
Revolution to the Korean War totaled just over 600,000- combined.
Early Decoration Day ceremonies were private and local, and
citizens would remember their lost loved ones either privately or in grave
marking ceremonies. In 1868, General John Logan of the Grand Army of the
Republic (GAR), called for the first widespread celebration of Decoration Day,
and asked participants to decorate graves with flowers. He did this at
Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 people marked 20,000 graves. The
GAR was a Union veteran organization that dissolved in 1956 after the death of
its last member.
It remained a Civil War holiday until after World War I,
when people began celebrating all war dead. In 1971, Congress declared it
a federal holiday.
