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**The Origins of Memorial Day**

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Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an
organization of Union veterans --- the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)
--- established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the
graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared it
should be May 30. It is believed the date was chosen because flowers
would be in bloom all over the country.

The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National
Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The ceremonies
centered around the mourning- draped veranda of the Arlington mansion,
once the home of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Various Washington officials,
including Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, presided over the ceremonies.
After speeches, children from the Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphan Home and
members of the GAR made their way through the cemetery, strewing flowers
on both Union and Confederate graves, reciting prayers and singing
hymns.

**Local Observances Claim To Be First**

Local springtime tributes to the Civil War dead already had been held in
various places. One of the first occurred in Columbus, Miss., April 25,
1866, when a group of women visited a cemetery to decorate the graves of
Confederate soldiers who had fallen in battle at Shiloh. Nearby were the
graves of Union soldiers, neglected because they were the enemy.
Disturbed at the sight of the bare graves, the women placed some of
their flowers on those graves, as well. Today, cities in the North and
the South claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day in 1866. Both Macon
and Columbus, Ga., claim the title, as well as Richmond, Va. The village
of Boalsburg, Pa., claims it began there two years earlier. A stone in a
Carbondale, Ill., cemetery carries the statement that the first
Decoration Day ceremony took place there on April 29, 1866. Carbondale
was the wartime home of Gen. Logan. Approximately 25 places have been
named in connection with the origin of Memorial Day, many of them in the
South where most of the war dead were buried.

**Official Birthplace Declared**

In 1966, Congress and President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, N.Y.,
the "birthplace" of Memorial Day. There, a ceremony on May 5, 1866,
honored local veterans who had fought in the Civil War. Businesses
closed and residents flew flags at half-staff. Supporters of Waterloo's
claim say earlier observances in other places were either informal, not
community- wide or one-time events. By the end of the 19th century,
Memorial Day ceremonies were being held on May 30 throughout the nation.
State legislatures passed proclamations designating the day, and the
Army and Navy adopted regulations for proper observance at their
facilities. It was not until after World War I, however, that the day
was expanded to honor those who have died in all American wars. In 1971,
Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress,
though it is still often called Decoration Day. It was then also placed
on the last Monday in May, as were some other federal holidays.

**Some States Have Confederate Observances**

Many Southern states also have their own days for honoring the
Confederate dead. Mississippi celebrates Confederate Memorial Day on the
last Monday of April, Alabama on the fourth Monday of April, and Georgia
on April 26. North and South Carolina observe it on May 10, Louisiana on
June 3 and Tennessee calls that date Confederate Decoration Day. Texas
celebrates Confederate Heroes Day January 19 and Virginia calls the last
Monday in May Confederate Memorial Day.

Gen. Logan's order for his posts to decorate graves in 1868 "with the
choicest flowers of springtime" urged: "We should guard their graves
with sacred vigilance. \... Let pleasant paths invite the coming and
going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages
of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we
have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic."

The crowd attending the first Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington
National Cemetery was approximately the same size as those that attend
today's observance, about 5,000 people. Then, as now, small American
flags were placed on each grave --- a tradition followed at many
national cemeteries today. In recent years, the custom has grown in many
families to decorate the graves of all departed loved ones.

The origins of special services to honor those who die in war can be
found in antiquity. The Athenian leader Pericles offered a tribute to
the fallen heroes of the Peloponnesian War over 24 centuries ago that
could be applied today to the 1.1 million Americans who have died in the
nation's wars: "Not only are they commemorated by columns and
inscriptions, but there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them,
graven not on stone but in the hearts of men."

To ensure the sacrifices of America's fallen heroes are never forgotten,
in December 2000, the U.S. Congress passed and the president signed into
law "The National Moment of Remembrance Act," P.L. 106-579, creating the
White House Commission on the National Moment of Remembrance. The
commission's charter is to "encourage the people of the United States to
give something back to their country, which provides them so much
freedom and opportunity" by encouraging and coordinating commemorations
in the United States of Memorial Day and the National Moment of
Remembrance.

The National Moment of Remembrance encourages all Americans to pause
wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day for a minute of
silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to the
nation. As Moment of Remembrance founder Carmella LaSpada states: "It's
a way we can all help put the memorial back in Memorial Day."