Memorial Day, originally called, “Decoration Day,” is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. Though there are many variations as to its actual beginnings, there is evidence that this holiday was celebrated as far back as the Civil War when women’s groups in the South decorated the graves of fallen Civil War soldiers.

 

While Waterloo, New York, was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966 with proclamation 3727 where he purposed the day as a “day of prayer for permanent peace,” original beginnings are often credited to General John Logan, the national commander of the grand Army of the Republic in 1868. On May 30, 1868, flowers were placed at the graves of the Union and Confederate soldiers at the Arlington National Cemetery. Even during the tumultuous times of the 1860s, General Logan realized the importance of a day that was not about division, but rather, about reconciliation and the coming together of a country to honor and remember all of those who gave their lives. In his General Order Number 11 of May 5, 1868, Logan wrote, “Let no vandalism or avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten, as a people, the cost of a free and undivided republic.