Digging for Answers 5/20/2010

Digging for Answers

by Randy Seaver

Welcome to the Digging for Answers column on the Graveyard Rabbit Online Journal.

This column will depend on your submission of questions about cemeteries, gravestones, burial practices, and other topics that concern a Graveyard Rabbit (other than where his next carrot is coming from!). So please send some questions to the editor, who will pass them along and keep the columnist hopping.

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Question: Gale asks: What is the history behind Decoration Day becoming Memorial Day?

Answer:

The history of Decoration Day and Memorial Day is summarized in the article "Memorial Day" on Wikipedia. Excerpts from the article:

"Following the end of the Civil War, many communities set aside a day to mark the end of the war or as a memorial to those who had died. Some of the places creating an early memorial day include Sharpsburg, Maryland, located near Antietam Battlefield; Charleston, South Carolina; Boalsburg, Pennsylvania; Petersburg, Virginia; Carbondale, Illinois; Columbus, Mississippi; many communities in Vermont; and some two dozen other cities and towns. These observances coalesced around Decoration Day, honoring the Union dead, and the several Confederate Memorial Days.

"According to Professor David Blight of the Yale University History Department, the first memorial day was observed by formerly enslaved black people at the Washington Race Course (today the location of Hampton Park) in Charleston, South Carolina. The race course had been used as a temporary Confederate prison camp in 1865 as well as a mass grave for Union soldiers who died there. Immediately after the cessation of hostilities, formerly enslaved people exhumed the bodies from the mass grave and reinterred them properly with individual graves. They built a fence around the graveyard with an entry arch and declared it a Union graveyard. The work was completed in only ten days. On May 1, 1865, the Charleston newspaper reported that a crowd of up to ten thousand, mainly black residents, including 2800 children, processed to the location for a celebration which included sermons, singing, and a picnic on the grounds, thereby creating the first Decoration Day.

"The first observance was in Waterloo, New York on May 5, 1866, and each year thereafter. The friendship between General John Murray, a distinguished citizen of Waterloo, and General John A. Logan, who helped bring attention to the event nationwide, was likely a factor in the holiday's growth. On May 5, 1868, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, a veterans' organization, Logan issued a proclamation that "Decoration Day" be observed nationwide. It was observed for the first time on May 30 of the same year; the date was chosen because it was not the anniversary of a battle. The tombs of fallen Union soldiers were decorated in remembrance.

"The alternative name of "Memorial Day" was first used in 1882. It did not become more common until after World War II, and was not declared the official name by Federal law until 1967."

The original name for the holiday - Decoration Day - came from the practice of decorating the graves of soldiers who died during battles of the Civil War. The observance later expanded to commemorate fallen soldiers from all past or current conflicts, and then later still to include all US service veterans.

The CNN website tells some of the traditions:

"General Orders No. 11 stated that "in this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed," but over time several customs and symbols became associated with the holiday.

"It is customary on Memorial Day to fly the flag at half staff until noon, and then raise it to the top of the staff until sunset.

"Taps, the 24-note bugle call, is played at all military funerals and memorial services. It originated in 1862 when Union Gen. Dan Butterfield "grew tired of the 'lights out' call sounded at the end of each day," according to The Washington Post. Together with the brigade bugler, Butterfield made some changes to the tune. Not long after, the melody was used at a burial for the first time, when a battery commander ordered it played in lieu of the customary three rifle volleys over the grave. The battery was so close to enemy lines, the commander was worried the shots would spark renewed fighting.

"The World War I poem "In Flanders Fields," by John McCrea, inspired the Memorial Day custom of wearing red artificial poppies. In 1915, a Georgia teacher and volunteer war worker named Moina Michael began a campaign to make the poppy a symbol of tribute to veterans and for "keeping the faith with all who died." The sale of poppies has supported the work of the Veterans of Foreign Wars."

I'm not sure that I answered Gale's question completely, but I think that the gradual change in terminology from "Decoration Day" to "Memorial Day" started around the start of the 20th century, and was officially changed until 1967.

There have been many quotes and poems written about Memorial Day - here's one:

"MEMORIAL DAY by Theodosia Pickering Garrison

"A handful of old men walking down the village street

In worn, brushed uniforms, their gray heads high;

A faded flag above them, one drum to lift their feet-

Look again, O heart of mine, and see what passes by!

"There's a vast crowd swaying, there's a wild band playing,

The streets are full of marching men, or tramping cavalry.

Alive and young and straight again, they ride to greet a mate again-

The gallant souls, the great souls that live eternally!

"A handful of old men walking down the highways?

Nay, we look on heroes that march among their peers,

The great, glad Companions have swung from heaven's byways

And come to join their own again across the dusty years.

"There are strong hands meeting, there are staunch hearts greeting-

A crying of remembered names, of deeds that shall not die.

A handful of old men?-Nay, my heart, look well again;

The spirit of America today is marching by!"