By Linda Jones
The Memorial Day Museum in Waterloo, N.Y., housed in an 1850 home on the town’s Main Street, honors the town as the “Birthplace of Memorial Day.” The observance in Waterloo was the idea of a local druggist, Henry C. Welles, in 1866. Welles felt the patriots who gave their lives in the cause of the North during the Civil War should be honored by decorating their graves and organizing a parade. A committee was formed to plan this commemoration and the result was the entire town was decorated with flags at half-mast, evergreen boughs and black mourning streamers. Martial music paced the parade in which numerous civic societies and townspeople marched to each of the three local cemeteries. Lengthy speeches were given at each cemetery. Crosses, wreaths and bouquets marked each veteran’s grave.
On the Thursday before Memorial Day, soldiers of the 3rd U.S. Infantry place American flags at each of the 260,000 plus gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery.
And there were many fresh veterans’ graves. Our war against ourselves – the Civil War – has been America’s most destructive – 620,000 husbands, fathers, sons and brothers fell in that battle. Families of these fallen soldiers, both in the North and in the South, had already begun decorating the graves with flowers as a tribute, but Waterloo is recognized as the birthplace because their commemoration involved the entire town and was both more organized and more consistent than any other community’s tribute.
Two years after Waterloo began their official observance the first commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, Gen. John Logan proclaimed that Decoration Day should be officially observed on May 30 that year. A momentous step forward was taken when flowers were placed on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.
But the entire South, with lingering hatred and bitterness, observed Decoration Day on a different day from the North until after WWI. When the holiday changed from honoring only Civil War dead to honoring all veterans, some Southern states began celebrating on the official day. Eight Southern states are still holdouts, celebrating on other days: Texas on Jan. 19, South Carolina on May 10, Louisiana and Tennessee on June 3, Jefferson Davis’ birthday, and Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi on April 26.
In 1971, Congress passed the National Holiday Act, guaranteeing a three-day holiday weekend for most federal holidays. Memorial Day, as Decoration Day is now called, was assigned the last Monday in May. With the name, the date and the purpose changed, the intent of the original observance was often lost in three-day family camping trips and barbecues, but the 21st century wars – and losses – have brought a renewed commitment from Americans. In 2004 the first Memorial Day parade in more than 60 years marched in Washington, D.C.
Some traditional observances have always been faithfully honored. On the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3rd U.S. Infantry place American flags at each of the 260,000 plus gravestones in Arlington; they then patrol 24/7 throughout the weekend to ensure the flags remain standing. In 1951, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St. Louis began their tradition of placing flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.
Many Americans believe this observance might return to the sacred spirit of its origins if it would be returned to its traditional day of observance. The Veterans of Foreign Wars stated in its 2002 Memorial Day address, “Changing the date merely to create a three-day weekend has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt this has contributed greatly to the general public’s nonchalant observance of Memorial Day.”
Bills were introduced in 1999 into both the Senate and House proposing to restore the observance to its traditional day, May 30. They’re still tied up in committee.
