This is one of several articles in my brief history series about the US Civil War and its 150 anniversary. Originally published Memorial Day 2018. Updated May 2023.

In 1970, Memorial Day became a federal holiday on the last Monday in May and now most people are not even sure what the holiday is about because it is the unofficial first day of summer.

• Don’t tell a soldier, “Happy Memorial Day” that would be in poor taste.
• Do offer your time to decorate memorials during this week and through the summer.  Today started as a springtime remembrance day following the Civil War. Before this, there was only the 4th of July as a “national” holiday.
• Don’t ask about a soldier’s time in combat today. Remember, today is about the soldiers who “gave their last full measure” for their country.
• Do listen to stories and offer to record a soldier’s history.
• Don’t just listen to angry talking “news” heads.
• Do go and read Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address here and  Frederick Douglass’s Decoration Day Speech here

History of Decoration Day

In 1866 during the first spring following the end of the Civil War, families across the country began pilgrimages to the battlefields where their loved ones were buried and towns began to create remembrances, parades, and memorials for their blessed buried dead. With hands full of flowers and stone markers, they began to decorate the graves of their loved ones.  A country torn apart by political and cultural differences was now having the same shared experience, the loss of a generation of young men. In their grieving state, an annual tradition on the 30th of May became a given. Even, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned a poem in 1882 about Decoration Day and it was published only a few weeks after his death.

The “building” of national grave sites, memorial statues in town centers, and the creation of the Arlington National Cemetery on the old plantation overlooking Washington, D.C. all became a part of American life for the next two decades. The country was at relative peace and could turn its attention to openly grieve.  Arlington became a presevation of fallen Union soldiers. (During the war the Union had crossed the Potomac early and taken the land that was Robert E. Lee’s home until spring of 1861. They began using it as a hospital and burying the dead on his land. He couldn’t even afford to own it after the war.) After the war was over, he “chose” to give the land over to the government he had fought for and against. Now it is a place of reverence, probably best known for its tradition of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and is the sight of President Kennedy’s eternal flame.

Memorial Day In Other Countries

Of course, Memorial Day is different in other countries for the US it simply became a day in May because of the post-war events of Reconstruction and the farming calendar. In Europe, it tends to be Armistice Day (US Veterans Day).  ANZAC Day is celebrated in Australia and New Zealand to correspond with the Battle of Gallipoli. Martyr’s Day is observed on different days in Turkey, India, Egypt, and 20 other countries. Not to mention, the countless other variations for nations around the world. Decoration Day, now known as Memorial Day, is so much more than just remembrance it is a coming to terms every year of the sacrifice of the few for the freedoms of the many.

The information contained in this article was fact-checked using the online sources Wikipedia and ABT. As well as, works by Shelby Foote, James M. McPherson, Bruce Catton, James I. Robertson Jr., and William C. Davis.