The history of Memorial Day is an interesting story that has roots right here in the heartland.
I’m Shad Burner, Vice President of Business Development with the Cape Chamber. Let’s talk Business.
Well, today, on Memorial Day, let’s not talk business. Instead, I’d love to share a little history.
An argument can be made that Carbondale, Illinois, has a claim to the first organized community-wide Memorial Day observance. In April 1866, just over 200 civil war veterans marched through town to Woodlawn Cemetery, where Major General John A. Logan delivered an address to commemorate the fallen soldiers of the Civil War.
Two years later, Gen. Logan, who was the Commander in Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, issued General Order No. 11. which states in part that “the 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died.” In 1971, Memorial Day became an official federal holiday to be celebrated on the last Monday in May.
However, no good origin story is without debate. Pre-dating all known celebrations, the secretary of the Ladies Memorial Association wrote a letter to her local newspaper on March 11, 1866, asking ladies of the south to come together and decorate graves of the confederate dead in April. The story was circulated to other newspapers across the south. However, Waterloo, New York, was actually declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966. Many other cities claim to be the birthplace as well.
In all this, one thing can be certain and that’s the purpose of Memorial Day. Since the beginning of our republic, there have been more than one million fallen soldiers. Today, we take pause to honor these brave men and women.
