It was an ordinary day. May 30, 1868 and by proclamation of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, the first major Memorial Day observance was held to honor those who died "in defense of their country during the late rebellion." At the time it was known to some as "Decoration Day," which honored the Civil War dead by decorating their graves with flowers. On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Civil War soldiers buried in the cemetery. It had been three years since the end of the Civil War and several cities had already begun to celebrate the end of the war. Actually, several cities claim to be the birthplace of Decoration Day, including Columbus, Mississippi; Macon, Georgia; Richmond, Virginia; Boalsburg, Pennsylvania; and Carbondale, Illinois. It wasn't until 1966 that the federal government, under the direction of President Lyndon B. Johnson, declared Waterloo New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day. They chose Waterloo, which had first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866, because the town had made Memorial Day an annual, community-wide event, during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags. By the late 19th century, many communities across the country had begun to honor the dead of all of America's wars. In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday to be celebrated the last Monday in May. Today, Memorial Day is celebrated in Arlington National Cemetery with a ceremony in which a small American flag is placed on each grave. It is customary for the President and Vice-President to give a speech honoring the contributions of the dead and to lay a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. More than 5,000 people usually attend the ceremony and some Southern sates set aside a special day for honoring the Confederate dead which is usually called Confederate Memorial Day. In my home town of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, residents will pause to honor all servicemen and women. Others will honor conscientious objectors who performed alternative service. Many will visit graves of ancestors to place decorations on their grave sites. Lancaster marked its first Memorial Day, which at the time was still called Decoration Day, on May 30, 1868. General John A. Logan formalized that date exclusively to honor Union soldiers who had died in the recent Civil War. Union graves were decorated with flowers and eventually with small American flags. Confederate Decoration Day in the South were different affairs with separate events for the Union and Confederate soldiers. Lancaster's Decoration Day was first celebrated in May of 1869. Post 84, Grand Army of the Republic, coordinated a parade of military units, local fire companies and the Junior Order of American Mechanics to five Lancaster cemeteries. Both Lancaster residents, President James Buchanan and U.S. Rep. Thaddeus Stevens, had died the year before, but tombstones had not yet been erected over the gravesites. Citizens visited their gravesites at Woodward Hill and Shreiner's Cemeteries and placed flowers on the mounds of earth that covered their gravesites. At first Decoration Day was mostly to celebrate those who died in the Civil War, but in the early decades of the 20th Century, Lancaster celebrated Memorial Day as a major patriotic holiday for all who had served in wartime. It wasn't until 1971 that President Richard Nixon declared Memorial Day a national holiday with emphasis on decorating deceased veteran's graves. Perhaps this Memorial Day, those who died during the ongoing viral pandemic will be recognized along with our brave Veterans. Are they not also worthy of our honor? It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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