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From: "Sally Rolls Pavia" <>
Subject: This Day in History ~~ 30 May 1868 Civil War dead honored on Decoration D
Date: Mon, 30 May 2005 05:48:48 -0700


By proclamation of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic,
the first major Memorial Day observance is held to honor those who died "in
defense of their country during the late rebellion." Known to some as
"Decoration Day," mourners honored the Civil War dead by decorating their
graves with flowers. On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield
made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants
helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate
soldiers buried in the cemetery.

The 1868 celebration was inspired by local observances that had taken place
in various locations in the three years since the end of the Civil War. In
fact, several cities claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day, including
Columbus, Mississippi; Macon, Georgia; Richmond, Virginia; Boalsburg,
Pennsylvania; and Carbondale, Illinois. In 1966, the federal government,
under the direction of President Lyndon B. Johnson, declared Waterloo, New
York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day. They chose Waterloo--which
had first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866--because the town had made
Memorial Day an annual, community-wide event, during which businesses closed
and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.

By the late 19th century, many communities across the country had begun to
celebrate Memorial Day, and after World War I, observers began to honor the
dead of all of America's wars. In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a
national holiday to be celebrated the last Monday in May. Today, Memorial
Day is celebrated at Arlington National Cemetery with a ceremony in which a
small American flag is placed on each grave. It is customary for the
president or vice president to give a speech honoring the contributions of
the dead and to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. More than
5,000 people attend the ceremony annually. Several Southern states continue
to set aside a special day for honoring the Confederate dead, which is
usually called Confederate Memorial Day.


Sally Rolls Pavia

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