When was the first Memorial Day?

Answer 1

Memorial Day (originally called Decoration Day) was first observed on May 30, 1868 at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia. New York was the first state to officially recognize the holiday in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by most of the northern states. The southern states did not recognize the holiday until after World War I.

Answer 2

Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day and was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Alexander Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization of veterans of all branches of the US military. It was first observed on May 30, 1868. New York was the first state to officially recognize the holiday in 1873. By 1890 all of the northern states had also recognized the holiday. The southern states did not recognize this day/date until after World War I when it was expanded to honor the war dead of all wars and military actions in which the United States was involved. After this time the day generally became known as Memorial Day instead of Decoration Day but it was not until 1967 that legislation was signed by President Lyndon Banes Johnson officially renaming the holiday to Memorial Day.

Answer 3

The first Memorial Day in America was celebrated by African Americans who gathered at the site of an old race track prison at the close of the Civil War to honor Union dead who they felt died for their freedom. May 1, 1865 is indisputably the first event of its kind and unlike other events that took place later honoring those who died on both side of the war, by sheer numbers of participants as well as date. This was a major event, with ten thousand people participating, as reported in the Charleston Courier at the time. See works of David Blight, Ph.D. for verification, for example "Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory" and other works available from on line bookstores and in most libraries and read about Hampton Park, where a plaque was placed in honor of those first marchers on May 31, 2010, by obtaining "Layers of the Landscape at Hampton Park", a publication of the Charleston Horticultural Society, available from Charlestonhorticulturalsociety.org. See also Brian Hicks May, 2009 article in the Post and Courier of Charleston, SC for further information.

Thus, the information regarding May 5, 1868, while long an accepted answer, is an incorrect one. May 5,1868- The first Memorial Day was in 1868 to honor the victims of the US Civil War. See also postandcourier.com for June 1, 2010 for a description of the Memorial Day installation of a plaque in memory of that event and a solemn procession led by the re-enactors of the 54th Massachusetts, one of the Union regiments that participated in the original march in 1865.

Most states adhere to the Federal practice of observing it on the last Monday in May, but some retain the traditional day of celebration, which was May 30.

Answer 4

On May 5, 1868 General John Logan, a Union general during the US Civil War and then National Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic (a fraternal group of veterans), officially declared a holiday that was then known as Decoration Day. The first commemoration took place on May 30, 1868 at Arlington National Cemetery when the graves of the US Civil War dead (both Union and Confederate) were decorated with flowers.

New York was the first state to recognize the holiday in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The southern states refused to observe this date and each state of the south had their own "Memorial Day"-like observance on different days of the year.

It was not until after World War I that Decoration Day became a time to honor US Military persons who had died in all wars in which the United States had been involved. And it was not until this happened that the southern states began to observe the holiday on May 30. But the southern states still observe their original dates as well. This is also when the holiday began to be referred to as Memorial Day instead of Decoration Day. But it wasn't until 1967 that President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the legislation officially renaming Decoration Day to Memorial Day.

Answer 5

Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day and it was first observed on May 30, 1868 at Arlington National Cemetery to honor those who had died during the US Civil War, both Union and Confederate. After World War I the holiday was expanded to honor all military personnel who had died during any war in which the United States had been involved. It then generally became called Memorial Day but it was not until 1967 that the name was officially changed to Memorial Day.

Answer 6

Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day to honor the Union and Confederate Armies' fallen soldiers of the Civil War. It was first observed on May 30, 1868.

However, the first Memorial Day-like observance was held on May 1, 1865 in Charleston, South Carolina. It was organized by freedmen (freed slaves) who knew of at least 257 Union soldiers who had been held in Charleston as prisoners of war that had died there and they wanted to honor them.

In 1866 the southern states established the Confederate Memorial Day to honor the Confederate war dead. It is observed on different days in different states.

In the 20th century Memorial Day was expanded to honor Americans who had died in all wars.

Answer 7

Technically Congress did not declare Memorial Day a holiday. Decoration Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Alexander Logan, a Union general during the US Civil War and national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic (a fraternal organization of veterans), in his General Order No. 11. It was first commemorated on May 30, 1868 at Arlington National Cemetery by flowers being used to decorate the graves of soldiers, both Union and Confederate, who had died during the Civil War. By 1890 the day was recognized by all of the northern states. The south had their own Confederate Memorial Day celebrated on different days of the year in different states.

After World War I and the Korean War the holiday was expanded to honor all military personnel who had died during all wars in which the United States was involved. After this the south began to observe the holiday on May 30th while still observing their other dates as well. Decoration Day then generally became referred to as Memorial Day and in 1966 President Lyndon Baines Johnson officially declared that Waterloo, New York was the birthplace of Memorial Day. But it wasn't until 1967 that President Johnson signed the legislation that officially changed the name Decoration Day to Memorial Day.

Answer 8

That's a somewhat complicated question. In the United States, Memorial Day--or Decoration Day, as it was once known--officially started in 1868. However, it didn't become a popular holiday until much later, and memorial traditions occurred long before the United States existed.

The idea for an official Memorial Day came from soldier John A. Logan, who served in the Mexican-American War and, later, as a Union Army general in the Civil War. Logan issued a proclamation on May 6, 1868, establishing the holiday nationally.

That proclamation contains some beautiful language:

"The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land," Logan wrote. "In this observance no form or ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit."

"Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us as sacred charges upon the Nation's gratitude--the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan."

Logan certainly wasn't the first general to suggest laying flowers at fallen soldiers' graves, and memorial celebrations existed in the United States prior to his proclamation. In fact, Logan's version of Decoration Day took place at the same time of year as existing Southern remembrance ceremonies, so he was probably simply trying to merge the two traditions (either that, or he was simply picking a day in the Spring when flowers would be in bloom).

The Birthplace (or Birthplaces) of Memorial Day

By the time Logan issued his proclamation, the town of Waterloo, New York, had already held two memorial celebrations. The city credits pharmacist Henry C. Welles and attorney John B. Murray with the idea for the holiday.

Other cities also claimed the holiday; in Carbondale, Illinois, one cemetery claims to have hosted the first Decoration Day ceremony on April 29, 1866, while the village of Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, claims to have held a remembrance ceremony in 1864.

The town of Columbus, Mississippi, has a noteworthy legend to back up its claim. According to lore, a group of women visited the graves of Confederate soldiers on April 25, 1866. They noticed that the nearby graves of Union soldiers, who'd fallen at the battle of Shiloh, were bare; the women placed some flowers on those graves, starting the tradition.

In any case, in 1966, Congress officially named Waterloo as the birthplace of Memorial Day, and President Lyndon B. Johnson followed suit, signing a presidential proclamation recognizing the town.

Decoration Day or Memorial Day?

It's likely that Logan came up with his Decoration Day without knowing about Waterloo's celebration (or, for that matter, any of the other local celebrations).

In any case, his Decoration Day immediately caught on, and several states officially recognized May 30 over the next several decades. The name "Memorial Day" replaced "Decoration Day" in federal observances at the turn of the century, but most people still used the latter name; that changed gradually, and by the end of World War II, "Memorial Day" was the more common descriptor.

In 1971, federal law changed the official observance of Memorial Day from May 30 to the last Monday in May, and Congress officially recognized it as a national holiday (the same act of Congress also moved other official holidays to Mondays to ensure three-day weekends for federal workers).

As such, you could make the argument that the first Memorial Day was actually held in 1971, but the roots of the tradition stretch back much further. The earliest observance of the holiday in its modern form go back to at least 1868, and maybe even 1864.

Sources:

• General John A. Logan's Memorial Day Order
• The Good Fight That Didn't End: Henry P. Goddard's Accounts of Civil War and Peace (Non Series)
• White House Weekly Address: Honoring the Fallen
• Library of Congress
• From Decoration Day to Memorial Day

Answer 9

In 1882, some people started to call this event Memorial Day