Aspinock Memories
America's long history of Memorial Day
By Bill Pearsall,
Putnam Municipal Historian
The last weekend of May we look forward to celebrating a three-day holiday known as Memorial Day.
Here are some facts that you may or may not know about this holiday. Originally it was known as Decoration Day and originated in the years after the Civil war but did not become an official federal holiday until 1971. Many states were already observing the day with ceremonies, visiting cemeteries, holding family gatherings and participating in parades. Memorial Day unofficially marks the beginning of the summer season.
So, you may ask, where did Memorial Day come from? The Civil War ended in the spring of 1865 claiming more lives than any conflict in U.S. history and led to the establishment of the country’s first National Cemetries.
On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War Veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance later that month. That was May 30, 1868, and it was designated for the purpose of strewing flowers, saying prayers and decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion and now whose bodies lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land.
The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.
On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of 20,000 Civil War soldiers buried there.
Many Northern states held similar commemorative events and continued the tradition in subsequent years; by 1890 each state had made Decoration Day an official state holiday celebrated on May 30 each year. Southern states continued to honor the fallen on separate days until after WWI.
Memorial Day, as “Decoration Day” gradually came to be known, originally honored only those lost while fighting in the Civil War. But during WWI the United States found itself embroiled in another major conflict, and the holiday evolved to commemorate American military personnel who died in all wars including WWII, the Vietnam War, the Korean War and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For decades, Memorial Day continued to be observed on May 30, the date General Logan had selected for the first Decoration Day. But in 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May to create a three-day weekend for federal employees. The change went into effect in 1971. The same law also declared Memorial Day a federal holiday.
Cities and towns across the United States including Putnam host Memorial Day Parades each year, often incorporating military personnel and members of veterans’ organizations. People also observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries and memorials. Some people wear a red poppy in remembrance of those fallen in war – a tradition that began with a WWI poem, In Flanders Fields:
Each year on Memorial Day a national moment of remembrance takes place at 3 p.m. local time. Thanks go to History.com for the information in this article.
Aspinock Memories graces the pages of the Putnam Town Crier to keep Putnam’s history alive.
caption:
A Memorial Day Parade in Putnam before 1925. Photo courtesy of the Aspinock Historical Society.
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