Memorial Day

Memorial Day was originally a day in which the dead soldiers of the Civil War were honored. The townspeople of Waterloo, New York closed their shops and placed flowers, wreaths, and crosses on the graves of northern soldiers in their cemetery. Retired Major General Jonathan A. Logan led a group of surviving veterans through the town to the cemetery to decorate the graves of the fallen soldiers. They called it Decoration Day. At that time it was two different ceremonies.

In 1868, the two groups joined and other northern states started to commemorate their dead on May 30. Veterans marched through their towns followed by the townspeople to the cemetery to decorate the graves. Gun salutes were made to those soldiers who had given their lives for the northern cause.

Decoration Day was changed to Memorial Day in 1882 and soldiers who died in previous wars were honored. In the north, it was designated as a public holiday. In 1971 President Richard Nixon issued a proclamation declaring Memorial Day as a federal holiday on the last Monday in May. Many feel that this date change has altered the nature and character of the day. What was originally intended as a day to commemorate fallen soldiers in the service of the United States has become a three-day weekend commemorating the beginning of summer.

There are still traditions carried out in the original meaning of the day. Waterloo, New York still observes the traditional Memorial day of May 30. At the largest cemetery in the country, Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia commemorates the fallen soldiers who have served their country. In the early hours of the Friday morning before Memorial Day, the soldiers of the Third U. S. Infantry walk along the headstones. Each soldier stops at a headstone and pushes a flag into the ground.

The President or Vice President of the United States makes a speech and lays a wreath at the tombs of unknown soldiers on Memorial Day. There is a rifle salute after the speech.

Memorial Day in some southern states is observed on various days. The commemorate the fallen soldiers of the Civil War. In Louisiana and Tennessee on June 3, the day is celebrated as Confederate Memorial Day.

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