Discussion for article #236715
what we’ve forgotten is just as genuine and powerful, and often a lot more telling
Amen.
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We spent 4 years fighting the Civil War, and the next 150 years trying to distort the history of it. Thanks, Mr. Railton for your effort here to inform us of our past.
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There are towns across the country that claim to have been the place where Memorial Day was invented.
And all those claims are true, in a sense. In the late spring of 1865, I suspect people in many places spontaneously joined together to remember their dead and to rejoice that the war had finally ended. It would have been a natural thing to do. So I don’t pay much attention to any one place’s claims to fame at the birthplace of what became a national event.
In the middle of the last century, when I was young, many people still called the day “Decoration Day.” Everybody, or so it seemed, went to the cemeteries where their loved ones were buried (all loved ones, not just war dead) to tidy up the graves and leave bouquets of flowers. Because the day fell anywhere during the week, people were off work or out of school for the day only, so commemoration was the rule.
It’s a shame we lost that when we moved the day to a Monday and set up everything for partying and shopping. We ought to be willing to give just one day of the year to remember all our ancestors, and to remember the sacrifices of those who served.
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“I’m not trying to suggest that current celebrations of Memorial Day are anything other than genuine and powerful.”
Nor will I, but I will add that they are also jingoistic and perpetuate the illusion that might makes right.
I would only hope that on Memorial Day we also remember all the innocent lives we’ve taken as a result of wholly unnecessary conflict sold to the American people with a mountain of lies. And remember all those innocent Americans killed from the blowback of our murderous foreign policy conducted not on our behalf, but on behalf of the plutocrats whose future generations will inherit their wealth and never serve anyone but themselves. And remember too that sending our own precious patriots to risk life and limb and psyche for no good reason is not to be tolerated, and that honoring their sacrifice is poor recompense for exacting that sacrifice without justification.
But I’m afraid that unless war criminals in high places are actually prosecuted, these aspects of genuine and powerful sentiment will never be respected.
Obama long ago informed us we need to look forward, not backward, so learning anything from history and providing deterrents for future war crimes are, as Nancy Pelosi put it, “off the table.”
OK, America, back to the barbecue and the beer.
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Thanks for the comments, all. While I agree that the holiday sprung up out of that widespread communal sentiment, the specifics of Decoration Day are tied closely to ex-slaves’ commemorations, and whether we call them the first celebrations or just a key part of the origins, we need to better remember them and what they offer us.
Thanks,
Ben
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Thanks for providing the history of this day; it was illuminating.
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This article was indeed “surprising” as the headline asserts, at least to me. I knew nothing about this. Kudos to the author. Memorial Day is a day of remembrance, and the role played by ex-slaves in establishing the holiday is something that should be remembered every Memorial Day.
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The story of Memorial Day begins in the summer of 1865, when a prominent local druggist, Henry C. Welles, mentioned to some of his friends at a social gathering that while praising the living veterans of the Civil War it would be well to remember the patriotic dead by placing flowers on their graves. Nothing resulted from this suggestion until he advanced the idea again the following spring to General John B. Murray. Murray, a civil war hero and intensely patriotic, supported the idea wholeheartedly and marshalled veterans’ support. Plans were developed for a more complete celebration by a local citizens’ committee headed by Welles and Murray.
On May 5, 1866, the Village was decorated with flags at half mast, draped with evergreens and mourning black. Veterans, civic societies and residents, led by General Murray, marched to the strains of martial music to the three village cemeteries. There impressive ceremonies were held and soldiers’ graves decorated. One year later, on May 5, 1867, the ceremonies were repeated. In 1868, Waterloo joined with other communities in holding their observance on May 30th, in accordance with General Logan’s orders. It has been held annually ever since.
Waterloo held the first formal, village wide, annual observance of a day dedicated to honoring the war dead. On March 7, 1966, the State of New York recognized Waterloo by a proclamation signed by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller. This was followed by recognition from Congress of the United States when the House of Representatives and the Senate unanimously passed House Concurrent Resolution 587 on May 17th and May 19th, 1966 respectively. This reads in part as follows: “Resolved that the Congress of the United States, in recognition of the patriotic tradition set in motion one hundred years ago in the Village of Waterloo, NY, does hereby officially recognize Waterloo, New York as the birthplace of Memorial Day…”
On May 26, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson, signed a Presidential Proclamation recognizing Waterloo, NY as the Birthplace of Memorial Day. They have been celebrating Memorial Day on May 30 for 149 years.
Thanks for sharing that history–but there’s no reason we can’t remember it and also note that ex-slaves started decorating Union graves in May 1865 (per Blight and other historians), which evolved into Decoration Day as part of the move toward Memorial Day as well. It’s not either-or (that is, multiple celebrations can and did grow, separately and then eventually as part of a larger whole), but too much of the time, I would argue, we have forgotten the ex-slave celebrations while remember the others (as did Johnson with the Waterloo one, for example).
Thanks,
Ben