From this site:
The Civil War, which ended in the spring of 1865, claimed more lives than any conflict in U.S. history and required the establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries.
By the late 1860s, Americans in various towns and cities had begun holding springtime tributes to these countless fallen soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers and reciting prayers.
It is unclear where this tradition originated; numerous communities may have initiated the memorial gatherings independently. Some records show that one of the earliest Memorial Day commemorations was organized by a group of formerly enslaved people in Charleston, South Carolina, less than a month after the Confederacy surrendered in 1865. Nevertheless, in 1966, the federal government declared Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day.
Waterloo—which first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866—was chosen because it hosted an annual, community-wide event during which businesses closed. Residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.
Did you know? Each year, on Memorial Day, a national moment of remembrance occurs at 3:00 p.m. local time.
Decoration Day
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. “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated to strew 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,” he proclaimed.
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 the 20,000 Civil War soldiers buried there.
Many Northern states held similar commemorative events and reprised the tradition in subsequent years; by 1890, each one had made Decoration Day an official state holiday. Southern states, on the other hand, continued to honor the dead on separate days until after World War I.”
Last night, we attended Greg’s girlfriend Heather’s birthday party at a beautiful restaurant, Lumi, on the Nicollet Mall, a popular area of downtown Minneapolis. Three of Heather’s four children were there, and Greg’s three children, our grandchildren, for ten of us.
We had a lovely dinner and evening and returned to our hotel shortly before 10:00, able to watch the last five minutes of the Timberwolves basketball game. They’ve lost the first three games of this round of the championship and most likely won’t win the next four games and will be out of the playoffs. So it goes.
Today, it’s raining again. We’ll be staying in and cooking dinner again…salmon filet for me and pork ribs for Tom. It will be a lovely, quiet day.
Be safe and enjoy the last day of the long holiday weekend.
Be well.
Photos from ten years ago today, May 27, 2014:
