![Tomb of the Unknowns](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Tomb_of_the_Unknowns.jpg)
Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a
federal holiday in the United States
Federal holidays in the United States are the eleven calendar dates that are designated by the U.S. government as holidays. On U.S. federal holidays, non-essential federal government offices are closed and federal government employees are paid ...
for mourning the
U.S. military
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
personnel who have fought and died while serving in the
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
.
It is observed on
the last Monday of May; from 1868 to 1970 it was observed on May 30.
Many people visit cemeteries and memorials on Memorial Day to honor and mourn those who fought and died while serving in the U.S. military. Many volunteers place American flags on the graves of military personnel in
national cemeteries
The following is a partial list of prominent National Cemeteries:
Africa
Algeria
* El Alia Cemetery, Algiers
Burundi
* Mausolée des Martyrs de la Démocratie, Bujumbura
Ghana
* Asomdwee Park, Accra
* Burma Camp Military Cemetery, Acc ...
. Memorial Day is also considered the unofficial beginning of
summer
Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, wit ...
in the United States.
The first national observance of Memorial Day occurred on May 30, 1868.
Then known as Decoration Day, the holiday was proclaimed by Commander in Chief
John A. Logan
John Alexander Logan (February 9, 1826 – December 26, 1886) was an American soldier and politician. He served in the Mexican–American War and was a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War. He served the state of Illinois as a stat ...
of the
Grand Army of the Republic
The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (U.S. Navy), and the Marines who served in the American Civil War. It was founded in 1866 in Decatur, Il ...
to honor the Union soldiers who had died in the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
. This national observance was preceded by many local ones between the end of the Civil War and Logan's declaration. Many cities and people have claimed to be the first to observe it. However, in 2022, the
National Cemetery Administration
The United States National Cemetery System is a system of 164 cemetery, cemeteries in the United States and its territories. The authority to create military burial places came during the American Civil War, in an act passed by the U.S. ...
, a division of the
Department of Veterans Affairs, credited
Mary Ann Williams
Mary Ann Williams (also known as Mrs. Charles J. Williams) (10 August 1821 – 15 April 1874) was an American woman who was the first proponent for Memorial Day, an annual holiday to decorate soldiers’ graves.
Antebellum years
Mary Ann Howar ...
with originating the "idea of strewing the graves of Civil War soldiers - Union and Confederate" with flowers.
Official recognition as a holiday spread among the states, beginning with New York in 1873.
By 1890, every Union state had adopted it. The
World War
A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...
s turned it into a day of remembrance for all members of the U.S. military who fought and died in service. In 1971, Congress standardized the holiday as "Memorial Day" and changed its observance to the last Monday in May.
Two other days celebrate those who have served or are serving in the U.S. military:
Armed Forces Day (which is earlier in May), an unofficial U.S. holiday for honoring those currently serving in the armed forces, and
Veterans Day
Veterans Day (originally known as Armistice Day) is a federal holiday in the United States observed annually on November 11, for honoring military veterans of the United States Armed Forces (who were discharged under conditions other than di ...
(on November 11), which honors all those who have served in the
United States Armed Forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
.
Claimed origins
![1870DecorationDayStPaulMNphotoCharlesZimmerman](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/1870DecorationDayStPaulMNphotoCharlesZimmerman.jpg)
A variety of cities and people have claimed origination of Memorial Day.
In some such cases, the claims relate to documented events, occurring before or after the Civil War. Others may stem from general traditions of decorating soldiers' graves with flowers, rather than specific events leading to the national proclamation. Soldiers' graves were decorated in the U.S. before and during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
. Other claims may be less respectable, appearing to some researchers as taking credit without evidence, while erasing better-evidenced events or connections.
["The Origins of Memorial Day"](_blank)
Snopes.com, May 25, 2018
Precedents in the South
Charleston, South Carolina
Of documented commemorations occurring after the end of the Civil War and with the same purpose as Logan's proclamation, the earliest occurred in
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
. On May 1, 1865, formerly enslaved Black adults and children held a parade of 10,000 people to honor 257 dead Union soldiers. Those soldiers had been buried in a mass grave at the Washington Race Course, having died at the Confederate prison camp located there. After the city fell, recently freed persons unearthed and properly buried the soldiers. Then, on May 1, they held a parade and placed flowers. The estimate of 10,000 people comes from contemporaneous reporting, more recently unearthed by Historian
David W. Blight
David William Blight (born 1949) is the Sterling Professor of History, of African American Studies, and of American Studies and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University. Previous ...
, following references in archived material from Union veterans where the events were also described. Blight cites articles in the ''Charleston Daily Courier'' and the ''
New-York Tribune.''
No direct link has been established between this event and Logan's 1868 proclamations. Although Blight has claimed that "African Americans invented Memorial Day in Charleston, South Carolina", in 2012, he stated that he "has no evidence" that the event in Charleston effectively led to General Logan's call for the national holiday.
Virginia
On June 3, 1861,
Warrenton, Virginia, was the location of the first Civil War soldier's grave ever to be decorated, according to a Richmond ''Times-Dispatch'' newspaper article in 1906. This decoration was for the funeral of the first soldier killed in action during the Civil War,
John Quincy Marr
John Quincy Marr (May 27, 1825 – June 1, 1861) was a Virginia militia company captain and the first Confederate soldier killed by a Union soldier in combat during the American Civil War. Marr was killed at the Battle of Fairfax Court Hou ...
, who fought and died on June 1, 1861, during a skirmish at
Battle of Fairfax Courthouse in Virginia.
Savannah, Georgia
In July 1862, women in
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...
, decorated the graves at Laurel Grove Cemetery of Colonel
Francis S. Bartow
Francis S. Bartow (born Francis Stebbins Bartow; September 6, 1816 – July 21, 1861) was a licensed attorney turned politician, serving two terms in the United States House of Representatives and becoming a political leader of the Confederate S ...
and his comrades who fought and died at Battle of Manassas (
First Battle of Bull Run) the year before.
Jackson, Mississippi
On April 26, 1865, in
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...
,
Sue Landon Vaughan
Sue Landon Vaughan (October 12, 1835 – July 22, 1911) was an American artist and writer best known for falsely claiming to have originated the Memorial Day holiday.
Early life
Susan Hutchinson Adams was born in Missouri in 1835, the daughter o ...
supposedly decorated the graves of Confederate and Union soldiers. However, the earliest recorded reference to this event did not appear until many years after.
Regardless, mention of the observance is inscribed on the southeast panel of the
Confederate Monument
In the United States, the public display of Confederate monuments, memorials and symbols has been and continues to be controversial. The following is a list of Confederate monuments and memorials that were established as public displays and symb ...
in Jackson, erected in 1891.
Columbus, Georgia
The
United States National Park Service[National Park Service, "Flowers For Jennie"](_blank)
Retrieved February 24, 2015 and numerous scholars attribute the beginning of a Memorial Day practice in the South to a group of women of Columbus, Georgia.
The women were the Ladies Memorial Association of Columbus. They were represented by
Mary Ann Williams
Mary Ann Williams (also known as Mrs. Charles J. Williams) (10 August 1821 – 15 April 1874) was an American woman who was the first proponent for Memorial Day, an annual holiday to decorate soldiers’ graves.
Antebellum years
Mary Ann Howar ...
(Mrs. Charles J. Williams) who, as Secretary, wrote a letter to press in March 1866 asking their assistance in establishing annual holiday to decorate the graves of soldiers throughout the south.
The letter was reprinted in several southern states and the plans were noted in newspapers in the north. The date of April 26 was chosen. The holiday was observed in Atlanta, Augusta, Macon, Columbus and elsewhere in Georgia as well as Montgomery, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; Louisville, Kentucky; New Orleans, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi, and across the south.
In some cities, mostly in Virginia, other dates in May and June were observed. General John A. Logan commented on the observances in a speech to veterans on July 4, 1866, in Salem, Illinois. After General Logan's General Order No. 11 to the Grand Army of the Republic to observe May 30, 1868, the earlier version of the holiday began to be referred to as
Confederate Memorial Day.
Columbus, Mississippi
A year after the war's end, in April 1866, four women of Columbus gathered together at
Friendship Cemetery
Friendship Cemetery is a cemetery located in Columbus, Mississippi. In 1849, the cemetery was established on 5 acres by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. With . The original layout consisted of three interlocking circles, signifying the Odd F ...
to decorate the graves of the Confederate soldiers. They also felt moved to honor the Union soldiers buried there, and to note the grief of their families, by decorating their graves as well. The story of their gesture of humanity and reconciliation is held by some writers as the inspiration of the original Memorial Day despite its occurring last among the claimed inspirations.
Other Southern Precedents
According to the
United States Library of Congress website, "Southern women decorated the graves of soldiers even before the Civil War’s end. Records show that by 1865, Mississippi, Virginia, and South Carolina all had precedents for Memorial Day." The earliest Southern Memorial Day celebrations were simple, somber occasions for veterans and their families to honor the dead and tend to local cemeteries.
In following years, the
Ladies' Memorial Association
A Ladies' Memorial Association (LMA) is a type of organization for women that sprang up all over the American South in the years after the American Civil War. Typically, these were organizations by and for women, whose goal was to raise monument ...
and other groups increasingly focused rituals on preserving Confederate culture and the
Lost Cause of the Confederacy
The Lost Cause of the Confederacy (or simply Lost Cause) is an History of the United States, American pseudohistorical historical negationist, negationist mythology that claims the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil Wa ...
narrative.
Precedents in the North
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
The 1863 cemetery dedication at
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Gettysburg (; non-locally ) is a borough and the county seat of Adams County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg (1863) and President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address are named for this town.
Gettysburg is home to th ...
, included a ceremony of commemoration at the graves of dead soldiers. Some have therefore claimed that President
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
was the founder of Memorial Day. However, Chicago journalist Lloyd Lewis tried to make the case that it was Lincoln's funeral that spurred the soldiers' grave decorating that followed.
Boalsburg, Pennsylvania
On July 4, 1864, ladies decorated soldiers' graves according to local historians in
Boalsburg, Pennsylvania
Boalsburg is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Harris Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania, Harris Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania, Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the State College, P ...
. Boalsburg promotes itself as the birthplace of Memorial Day. However, no published reference to this event has been found earlier than the printing of the History of the 148th Pennsylvania Volunteers in 1904. In a footnote to a story about her brother, Mrs. Sophie (Keller) Hall described how she and Emma Hunter decorated the grave of Emma's father, Reuben Hunter, and then the graves of all soldiers in the cemetery. The original story did not account for Reuben Hunter's death occurring two months later on September 19, 1864. It also did not mention Mrs. Elizabeth Myers as one of the original participants. However, a bronze statue of all three women gazing upon Reuben Hunter's grave now stands near the entrance to the Boalsburg Cemetery. Although July 4, 1864, was a Monday, the town now claims that the original decoration was on one of the Sundays in October 1864.
National Decoration Day
![John A](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/John_A._Logan_%28general%29.jpg)
On May 5, 1868, General
John A. Logan
John Alexander Logan (February 9, 1826 – December 26, 1886) was an American soldier and politician. He served in the Mexican–American War and was a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War. He served the state of Illinois as a stat ...
issued a proclamation calling for "Decoration Day" to be observed annually and nationwide; he was commander-in-chief of the
Grand Army of the Republic
The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (U.S. Navy), and the Marines who served in the American Civil War. It was founded in 1866 in Decatur, Il ...
(GAR), an organization of and for Union Civil War veterans founded in
Decatur, Illinois
Decatur ( ) is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois, with a population of 70,522 as of the 2020 Census. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Ce ...
.
With his proclamation, Logan adopted the Memorial Day practice that had begun in the Southern states three years earlier.
["Memorial Day's Roots Traced To Georgia"](_blank)
Michael Jones, ''Northwest Herald'', May 23, 2015. The northern states quickly adopted the holiday. In 1868, memorial events were held in 183 cemeteries in 27 states, and 336 in 1869. One author claims that the date was chosen because it was not the anniversary of any particular battle. According to a White House address in 2010, the date was chosen as the optimal date for flowers to be in bloom in the North.
Michigan state holiday
![The March of Time, by Henry Sandham](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/The_March_of_Time%2C_by_Henry_Sandham.jpg)
In 1871, Michigan made Decoration Day an official state holiday and by 1890, every northern state had followed suit. There was no standard program for the ceremonies, but they were typically sponsored by the
Women's Relief Corps, the women's auxiliary of the
Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), which had 100,000 members. By 1870, the remains of nearly 300,000 Union dead had been reinterred in 73 national cemeteries, located near major battlefields and thus mainly in the South. The most famous are
Gettysburg National Cemetery
Gettysburg National Cemetery is a United States national cemetery created for Union casualties from the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. The Battle of Gettysburg, which was fought between July 1 to 3, 1863, resulted in the larges ...
in Pennsylvania and
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...
, near Washington, :D.C.
Waterloo, New York proclamation
On May 26, 1966, President
Lyndon B. Johnson designated an "official" birthplace of the holiday by signing the presidential proclamation naming
Waterloo, New York, as the holder of the title. This action followed House Concurrent Resolution 587, in which the 89th Congress had officially recognized that the patriotic tradition of observing Memorial Day had begun one hundred years prior in Waterloo, New York. The village credits druggist
Henry C. Welles Henry Carter Welles (May 13, 1821 – July 7, 1868) was an American druggist and businessman. He is thought of as one of the founders of Memorial Day, along with former Union General John B. Murray.
Welles was born in Glastonbury, Connecticut in 1 ...
and county clerk
John B. Murray as the founders of the holiday. The legitimacy of this claim has been called into question by several scholars.
Early national history
In April 1865, following
Lincoln's assassination, commemorations were widespread. The more than 600,000 soldiers of both sides who fought and died in the Civil War meant that burial and memorialization took on new cultural significance. Under the leadership of women during the war, an increasingly formal practice of decorating graves had taken shape. In 1865, the federal government also began creating the
United States National Cemetery System for the Union war dead.
By the 1880s, ceremonies were becoming more consistent across geography as the GAR provided handbooks that presented specific procedures, poems, and Bible verses for local post commanders to utilize in planning the local event. Historian Stuart McConnell reports:
on the day itself, the post assembled and marched to the local cemetery to decorate the graves of the fallen, an enterprise meticulously organized months in advance to assure that none were missed. Finally came a simple and subdued graveyard service involving prayers, short patriotic speeches, and music … and at the end perhaps a rifle salute.
Relationship to Confederate Memorial Day
![Confederate Memorial at Alabama State Capitol Apr2009](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Confederate_Memorial_at_Alabama_State_Capitol_Apr2009.jpg)
In 1868, some Southern public figures began adding the label "Confederate" to their commemorations and claimed that Northerners had appropriated the holiday.
The first official celebration of Confederate Memorial Day as a public holiday occurred in 1874, following a proclamation by the Georgia legislature.
By 1916, ten states celebrated it, on June 3, the birthday of CSA President
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...
.
Other states chose late April dates, or May 10, commemorating Davis' capture.
The
Ladies' Memorial Association
A Ladies' Memorial Association (LMA) is a type of organization for women that sprang up all over the American South in the years after the American Civil War. Typically, these were organizations by and for women, whose goal was to raise monument ...
played a key role in using Memorial Day rituals to preserve Confederate culture.
Various dates ranging from April 25 to mid-June were adopted in different Southern states. Across the South, associations were founded, many by women, to establish and care for permanent cemeteries for the Confederate dead, organize commemorative ceremonies, and sponsor appropriate monuments as a permanent way of remembering the Confederate dead. The most important of these was the
United Daughters of the Confederacy, which grew from 17,000 members in 1900 to nearly 100,000 women by
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. They were "strikingly successful at raising money to build Confederate monuments, lobbying legislatures and Congress for the reburial of Confederate dead, and working to shape the content of history textbooks."
By 1890, there was a shift from the emphasis on honoring specific soldiers to a public commemoration of the Confederate South.
Changes in the ceremony's hymns and speeches reflect an evolution of the ritual into a symbol of cultural renewal and conservatism in the South. By 1913, David Blight argues, the theme of American nationalism shared equal time with the Confederate.
Renaming
By the 20th century, various Union memorial traditions, celebrated on different days, merged, and Memorial Day eventually extended to honor all Americans who fought and died while in the U.S. military service.
Indiana from the 1860s to the 1920s saw numerous debates on how to expand the celebration. It was a favorite lobbying activity of the
Grand Army of the Republic
The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (U.S. Navy), and the Marines who served in the American Civil War. It was founded in 1866 in Decatur, Il ...
(GAR). An 1884 GAR handbook explained that Memorial Day was "the day of all days in the G.A.R. Calendar" in terms of mobilizing public support for pensions. It advised family members to "exercise great care" in keeping the veterans sober.
![DecorationDayMcCutcheon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/DecorationDayMcCutcheon.jpg)
Memorial Day speeches became an occasion for veterans, politicians, and ministers to commemorate the Civil War and, at first, to rehash the "atrocities" of the enemy. They mixed religion and celebratory nationalism for the people to make sense of their history in terms of sacrifice for a better nation. People of all religious beliefs joined and the point was often made that German and Irish soldiers – ethnic minorities which faced discrimination in the United States – had become true Americans in the "baptism of blood" on the battlefield.
In the national capital in 1913 the four-day "Blue-Gray Reunion" featured parades, re-enactments, and speeches from a host of dignitaries, including President
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
, the first Southerner elected to the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
since the War.
James Heflin of
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
gave the main address. Heflin was a noted orator; his choice as Memorial Day speaker was criticized, as he was opposed for his support of segregation; however, his speech was moderate in tone and stressed national unity and goodwill, gaining him praise from newspapers.
The name "Memorial Day", which was first attested in 1882, gradually became more common than "Decoration Day" after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
but was not declared the official name by federal law until 1967.
On June 28, 1968, Congress passed the
Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which moved four holidays, including Memorial Day, from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient three-day weekend.
The change moved Memorial Day from its traditional May 30 date to the last Monday in May. The law took effect at the federal level in 1971.
After some initial confusion and unwillingness to comply, all 50 states adopted Congress's change of date within a few years.
By the early 20th century, the GAR complained more and more about the younger generation. In 1913, one Indiana veteran complained that younger people born since the war had a "tendency ... to forget the purpose of Memorial Day and make it a day for games, races, and revelry, instead of a day of memory and tears". Indeed, in 1911 the scheduling of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway car race (later named the
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...
) was vehemently opposed by the increasingly elderly GAR. The state legislature in 1923 rejected holding the race on the holiday. But the new
American Legion
The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...
and local officials wanted the big race to continue, so Governor Warren McCray vetoed the bill and the race went on.
Civil religious holiday
![Remembering the fallen at ANC on Memorial Day 150525-A-FT656-762](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Remembering_the_fallen_at_ANC_on_Memorial_Day_150525-A-FT656-762.jpg)
Memorial Day endures as a holiday which most businesses observe because it marks the unofficial beginning of summer. The
Veterans of Foreign Wars
The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), formally the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, is an organization of US war veterans, who, as military service members fought in wars, campaigns, and expeditions on foreign land, waters, or a ...
(VFW) and
Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) is an American congressionally chartered fraternal organization that carries out activities to preserve the history and legacy of the United States Armed Forces veterans who fought during the Civil ...
(SUVCW) advocated returning to the original date. The VFW stated in 2002:
Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed a lot to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day.
In 2000, Congress passed the
National Moment of Remembrance Act, asking people to stop and remember at 3:00 pm.
On Memorial Day, the
flag of the United States
The national flag of the United States, United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rect ...
is raised briskly to the top of the staff and then solemnly lowered to the
half-staff
Half-mast or half-staff (American English) refers to a flag flying below the summit of a ship mast, a pole on land, or a pole on a building. In many countries this is seen as a symbol of respect, mourning, distress, or, in some cases, a salut ...
position, where it remains only until noon.
It is then raised to full-staff for the remainder of the day.
![Memorial Day Observance in small New England town](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Memorial_Day_Observance_in_small_New_England_town.jpg)
The
National Memorial Day Concert takes place on the west lawn of the
United States Capitol. The concert is broadcast on
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
and
NPR. Music is performed, and respect is paid to the people who gave their lives for their country.
Across the United States, the central event is attending one of the thousands of parades held on Memorial Day in large and small cities. Most of these feature marching bands and an overall military theme with the Active Duty, Reserve, National Guard, and Veteran service members participating along with military vehicles from various wars.
Scholars, following the lead of sociologist
Robert Bellah
Robert Neelly Bellah (February 23, 1927 – July 30, 2013) was an American sociologist and the Elliott Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. He was internationally known for his work related to the sociology of reli ...
, often make the argument that the United States has a secular "
civil religion
Civil religion, also referred to as a civic religion, is the implicit religious values of a nation, as expressed through public rituals, symbols (such as the national flag), and ceremonies on sacred days and at sacred places (such as monuments, bat ...
" – one with no association with any religious denomination or viewpoint – that has incorporated Memorial Day as a sacred event. With the Civil War, a new theme of death, sacrifice, and rebirth enters the civil religion. Memorial Day gave ritual expression to these themes, integrating the local community into a sense of nationalism. The American civil religion, in contrast to that of France, was never anticlerical or militantly secular; in contrast to Britain, it was not tied to a specific denomination, such as the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
. The Americans borrowed from different religious traditions so that the average American saw no conflict between the two, and deep levels of personal motivation were aligned with attaining national goals.
Longest observance
Since 1868,
Doylestown, Pennsylvania, has held an annual Memorial Day parade which it claims to be the nation's oldest continuously running.
Grafton, West Virginia, has also had an ongoing parade since 1868. However, the Memorial Day parade in
Rochester, Wisconsin
Rochester is a village in Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 3,785 at the 2020 census. The village is located within the former Town of Rochester. On November 4, 2008, the village of Rochester voted to consolidate with t ...
, predates both the Doylestown and the Grafton parades by one year (1867).
Poppies
In 1915, following the
Second Battle of Ypres, Lieutenant Colonel
John McCrae, a physician with the Canadian Expeditionary Force, wrote the poem, "
In Flanders Fields". Its opening lines refer to the fields of poppies that grew among the soldiers' graves in Flanders.
In 1918, inspired by the poem,
YWCA
The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries.
The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...
worker
Moina Michael attended a YWCA Overseas War Secretaries' conference wearing a silk poppy pinned to her coat and distributed over two dozen more to others present. In 1920, the National American Legion adopted it as its official symbol of remembrance.
Observance dates (1971–2037)
Related traditions
Decoration Day (Appalachia and Liberia)
Decoration Days in Southern
Appalachia
Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...
and
Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
are a tradition which arose by the 19th century. Decoration practices are localized and unique to individual families, cemeteries, and communities, but common elements that unify the various Decoration Day practices are thought to represent
syncretism
Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various school of thought, schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or religious assimilation, assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in t ...
of predominantly Christian cultures in 19th century Southern Appalachia with pre-Christian influences from Scotland, Ireland, and African cultures. Appalachian and Liberian cemetery decoration traditions are thought to have more in common with one another than with United States Memorial Day traditions which are focused on honoring the military dead.
Appalachian and Liberian cemetery decoration traditions pre-date the United States Memorial Day holiday.
In the United States, cemetery decoration practices have been recorded in the Appalachian regions of West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, northern South Carolina, northern Georgia, northern and central Alabama, and northern Mississippi. Appalachian cemetery decoration has also been observed in areas outside Appalachia along routes of westward migration from that region: northern Louisiana, northeastern Texas, Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma, and southern Missouri.
According to scholars Alan and Karen Jabbour, "the geographic spread ... from the Smokies to northeastern Texas and Liberia, offer strong evidence that the southern Decoration Day originated well back in the nineteenth century. The presence of the same cultural tradition throughout the Upland South argues for the age of the tradition, which was carried westward (and eastward to Africa) by nineteenth-century migration and has survived in essentially the same form till the present."
While these customs may have inspired in part rituals to honor military dead like Memorial Day, numerous differences exist between Decoration Day customs and Memorial Day, including that the date is set differently by each family or church for each cemetery to coordinate the maintenance, social, and spiritual aspects of decoration.
In film, literature, and music
Films
* In ''
Memorial Day'', a 2012
war film starring
James Cromwell
James Oliver Cromwell (born January 27, 1940) is an American actor and activist. Some of his best-known films include ''Babe'' (1995), '' Star Trek: First Contact'' (1996), ''L.A. Confidential'' (1997), '' The Green Mile'' (1999), ''The Queen'' ...
, Jonathan Bennett, and John Cromwell, a character recalls and relives memories of World War II.
Music
*
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, one of the first American composers of international renown. His music was largely ignored during his early career, and many of his works went unperformed f ...
's symphonic 1912 poem ''Decoration Day'' depicts the holiday as he experienced it in his childhood, with his father's band leading the way to the town cemetery, the playing of "
Taps" on a trumpet, and a livelier march tune on the way back to the town. It is frequently played with three other Ives works based on holidays, as the second movement of ''
A Symphony: New England Holidays''.
* American rock band
Drive-By Truckers released a
Jason Isbell–penned song titled "Decoration Day" on their 2003
album of the same title.
Poetry
Poems commemorating Memorial Day include:
* Francis M. Finch's "The Blue and the Gray" (1867)
*
Michael Anania
Michael Anania (August 5, 1939) is an American poet, novelist, and essayist. His modernist poetry meticulously evokes Midwestern prairies and rivers. His autobiographical novel, ''Red Menace'', captured mid-twentieth century cold war angst and the ...
's "Memorial Day" (1994)
*
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...
's "Decoration Day" (1882)
*
Joyce Kilmer
Alfred Joyce Kilmer (December 6, 1886 – July 30, 1918) was an American writer and poet mainly remembered for a short poem titled "Trees" (1913), which was published in the collection ''Trees and Other Poems'' in 1914. Though a prolific poet who ...
's "Memorial Day"
See also
United States
*
Remembrance Day at the Gettysburg Battlefield
Remembrance Day is an annual Gettysburg Battlefield event for the anniversary of the 1863 Consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg during which President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. Starting in 1868, the ceremonies ...
, an annual honoring of Civil War dead held near the anniversary of the
Gettysburg Address
*
A Great Jubilee Day
A Great Jubilee Day, first held on Monday May 26, 1783, in North Stratford, now Trumbull, Connecticut, commemorated the end of fighting in the American Revolutionary War. This celebration included feasting, prayer, speeches, toasts, and two com ...
, first held the last Monday in May 1783 (
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
)
*
Armed Forces Day, third Saturday in May, a more narrowly observed remembrance honoring those currently serving in the U.S. military
*
Armistice Day, November 11, the original name of Veterans Day in the United States
*
Confederate Memorial Day, observed on various dates in many states in the South in memory of those killed fighting for the Confederacy during the American Civil War
*
Memorial Day massacre of 1937, May 30, held to remember demonstrators shot by police in Chicago
*
Nora Fontaine Davidson Nora Fontaine Maury Davidson (February 19, 1836 – February 10, 1929) was an American schoolteacher in Petersburg, Virginia. She is credited for holding the first Memorial Day ceremony in Petersburg, and as the inspiration for the United States' Me ...
, credited with the first Memorial Day ceremony in Petersburg, Virginia
*
Patriot Day, September 11, in memory of people killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks
*
United States military casualties of war
*
Veterans Day
Veterans Day (originally known as Armistice Day) is a federal holiday in the United States observed annually on November 11, for honoring military veterans of the United States Armed Forces (who were discharged under conditions other than di ...
, November 11, in memory of American military deaths during World War I. See
Remembrance Day
Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of wearing a remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces members who have died in t ...
for similar observances in Canada, the United Kingdom, and other Commonwealth nations.
Other countries
*
ANZAC Day
, image = Dawn service gnangarra 03.jpg
, caption = Anzac Day Dawn Service at Kings Park, Western Australia, 25 April 2009, 94th anniversary.
, observedby = Australia Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Cook Islands New ...
, April 25, an analogous observance in Australia and New Zealand
*
Armistice Day, November 11, the original name of Veterans Day in the United States and Remembrance Day in Canada, the United Kingdom, and other Commonwealth nations
*
Heroes' Day, various dates in various countries recognizing national heroes
*
International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, May 29, international observance recognizing United Nations peacekeepers
*
Remembrance Day
Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of wearing a remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces members who have died in t ...
, November 11, a similar observance in Canada, the United Kingdom, and many other Commonwealth nations originally marking the end of World War I
*
Remembrance of the Dead
Remembrance of the Dead ( nl, Dodenherdenking) is held annually on May 4 in the Netherlands. It commemorates all civilians and members of the armed forces of the Kingdom of the Netherlands who have died in wars or peacekeeping missions since ...
("Dodenherdenking"), May 4, a similar observance in the Netherlands
*
Volkstrauertag ("People's Mourning Day"), a similar observance in Germany usually in November
*
Yom Hazikaron (Israeli memorial day), the day before
Independence Day (Israel)
Independence Day ( he, יום העצמאות ''Yom Ha'atzmaut'', lit. "Day of Independence") is the national day of Israel, commemorating the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948. The day is marked by official and unofficial ceremonies ...
, around
Iyar 4
*
Decoration Day (Canada)
Decoration Day is a Canadian holiday that recognizes veterans of military history of Canada, Canada's military. The holiday has mostly been eclipsed by the similar Remembrance Day.
Decoration Day began on 2 June 1890. Originally, the celebrati ...
, a Canadian holiday that recognizes veterans of Canada's military which has largely been eclipsed by the similar Remembrance Day
*
Memorial Day (South Korea)
Memorial Day or Hyunchungil () is a South Korean public holiday on the sixth day of June by article 2, subparagraph 8. of 'Regulations On Holidays Of Government Offices' that commemorates all the Koreans who have contributed or died while servin ...
, June 6, the day to commemorate the men and women who died while in military service during the Korean War and other significant wars or battles
*
Victoria Day
Victoria Day (french: Fête de la Reine, lit=Celebration of the Queen) is a federal Canadian public holiday celebrated on the last Monday preceding May 25. Initially in honour of Queen Victoria's birthday, it has since been celebrated as the offi ...
, a Canadian holiday on the last Monday before May 25 each year, lacks the military memorial aspects of Memorial Day but serves a similar function as marking the start of cultural summer
References
Further reading
* Albanese, Catherine. "Requiem for Memorial Day: Dissent in the Redeemer Nation", ''American Quarterly'', Vol. 26, No. 4 (Oct. 1974), pp. 386–39
in JSTOR* Bellah, Robert N. "Civil Religion in America". ''Daedalus'' 1967 96(1): 1–21
online edition* Bellware, Daniel, and Richard Gardiner
''The Genesis of the Memorial Day Holiday in America'' (Columbus State University, 2014).* Blight, David W. "Decoration Day: The Origins of Memorial Day in North and South" in Alice Fahs and Joan Waugh, eds. ''The Memory of the Civil War in American Culture'' (2004)
online editionpp. 94–129; the standard scholarly history
* Blight, David W. ''Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory'' (2000) ch. 3, "Decorations
excerpt and text search* Buck, Paul H. ''The Road to Reunion, 1865–1900'' (1937)
* Cherry, Conrad. "Two American Sacred Ceremonies: Their Implications for the Study of Religion in America", ''American Quarterly'', Vol. 21, No. 4 (Winter, 1969), pp. 739–75
in JSTOR* Dennis, Matthew. ''Red, White, and Blue Letter Days: An American Calendar'' (2002)
* Jabbour, Alan, and Karen Singer Jabbour. ''Decoration Day in the Mountains: Traditions of Cemetery Decoration in the Southern Appalachians'' (University of North Carolina Press; 2010)
* Myers, Robert J. "Memorial Day". Chapter 24 in ''Celebrations: The Complete Book of American Holidays''. (1972)
*
External links
36 USC 116. ''Memorial Day''(designation law)
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
{{Authority control
1868 establishments in the United States
Annual events in the United States
Federal holidays in the United States
Holidays and observances by scheduling (nth weekday of the month)
Holidays related to the American Civil War
May observances
Monday observances
Observances honoring victims of war
Public holidays in the United States
Recurring events established in 1868
Title 36 of the United States Code
United States flag flying days