The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1903-05-28
Origin and Observance of Memorial
Day.

this interesting account of the origin
and observance of Memorial Day"
Whether the Southern memorial
observanees had their origin in New
Orleans, Columbus, Richmond or
elsewhere is disputed question that
we cannot undertake to decide. In
deed, we are told that in some coun-
tries for ages it has been the custom
of the people annually to repair to
the cemeteries and bedeck the graves
Of their friends and kindred with
flowers, but the custom we inaugu-
rated went further, and included the
resting places of those of our army
who were unknown to US, as well as
those of our own circle And thus
our memorial observances began.
The very first return of springtime
after Appomattox the women and
men of the South set about doing
this work. They not only went to
the cemeteries to carry flowers, but
took with them their trowels and
shovels with which to repair the
mounds, for in the stress and hurry
of war many graves had been rudely
made and needed to be freshly
mOunded.
In those days there was absolute
suspension of business in Richmond,
and the people went to the cemete-
ries in the morning, carried lunch
with them, and worked on the graves
until the afternoon, and then devoted
themselves to memorial exercises.
In that way the graves of our heroes
were put into decent condition, and
the memorial observance custom be-
came grated.
Ours were memorial days; "dec-
grafton day" was the name given
their own observances by the people
who mourned the Federal dead. But
in the nature of things Northerners
could not be so deeply interested in
their days of mourning as we were in
ours. Here in Richmond for instance,
$4,000 graves reminded us OF the
war. while in most Northern cities of
our population the soldiers sections
of their cemeteries did not include
one-tenth of that number. Here the
war came close to us, literally and
figuratively. We could not say that
some" of our folks were in the army,
but that "all'' of them were. We OF
the South took part in soldier life in
every phaze. Every drum beat,
every shot fired at the front echoed
in our homes, and every soldier OF
ours shot down plunged a neighbor-
hood into grief.
The war was at our doors and we
saw it's heroisms and it's horrors, it's
glories and it's agonies, its lights and
its shadows, and the images it en-
graved upon our memories are in
effaceable. For four years it alb
sorbed and enveloped all other
thoughts. We knew that it was
going on and that our lines were
thinning and our larders growing
leaner every day-and we could
think of nothing else.
No wonder then that our memorial
days found the people intense in
their feelings, poignant sorrow filling
their breasts, and but little of hope
to awaken aspirations for the future.
Very slowly, indeed, this feeling
abated. 1t is not yet wholly extin-
guished, but it is not given man al
ways to mourn. Happily, the glo-
ries OF the past remain with us, while
many of our griefs are buried.
The observances at OakwOOd Gem
etery always have been interesting.
In those grounds there are more
Confederate graves than in any
other we know of-16,0OO-and they
have always been well attended. An
nually, on the 10th of May, the ami
versary of the death OF StOnewall
Jackson, the Ladies Oakwood Memo
rial Association decorates those sol
diers' graves and executes a suitable
programme of memorial exercises.
OakwoOd was Il newly established
cemetery when the Confederate War
broke out. Most of the soldiers
buried there died from wounds or
disease at Chimborazo Hospital,
while most of those buried at Holly
wood died at Jackson and Ninder
Hospitals-two other mammoth
military hospitals that stood on the
level ground between Reservoir street
and Shields Grove. OF this great
army corps of the dead it may be
truly said:
No grander heroes ever died
No sterner battled to the last