Decoration Day: A Short History and a Call to Remembrance

While many of us observed Memorial Day this past week, few of us likely know and appreciate its history. Probably fewer remain who still refer to the day as “Decoration Day.” However, the observance did begin as “Decoration Day” nearly 160 years ago.

Congress has since changed the day’s name and date, making it a national holiday. Its general purpose has expanded too. It continues to remind us, though, that we should honor and appreciate those who have “pioneered” and gone before, often at great sacrifice.

Decoration Day was first designated and observed by Major General John Logan in 1868 to honor fallen Union soldiers. The war to preserve our Union had ended only three years before. Logan was Commander-In-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, or GAR, which was a Union veterans’ organization.

Logan chose May 30 for the observance, because flowers would be in full bloom by then and could be used to decorate graves. (Remember, at that time our nation consisted mainly of states closer to sea level, where growing seasons were less limited by late frosts.)

Local observances had taken place in other states, where many, including freedmen, gathered to rebury fallen Union soldiers. Some decorated the mass graves of those who had died in Confederate prison camps. Local observances and traditions continue even today.

Until 1918 Decoration Day had been observed to honor those who served – and especially those who fell – in the American Civil War. After World War I, the “Great War,” the day’s significance came to honor all those who had died in all of our nation’s wars. Many of us have since known it as a day to remember all who have gone before us, particularly family members, regardless of military service.

In 1967 Congress changed the name of the observance from Decoration Day to Memorial Day. Many who had always known it as Decoration Day continued to use that name. Congress then passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act in 1971, which made Memorial Day a federal holiday and moved it to the last Monday in May.

As we consider Decoration Day, please look back on Memorial Day and also look ahead to our nation’s Independence Day. We should all look back with gratitude on all who have gone before us. Remember those who have sacrificed – in so many ways, over centuries – to pioneer and establish this nation.

True, many wrongs have been committed by all races and cultures who make up this nation. The history of mankind is marked and measured by conflict. Our own nation’s history is not without blemish. No nation’s history is.

Each race or cultural group has history of warring against other cultures and at times oppressing some. We must all acknowledge those wrongs and resolve to do better ourselves. But we are blessed with immeasurable freedoms protected by the constitution on which those freedoms are based.

As Lakota historian Joseph Marshall III wrote in the introduction to his notable book The Day The World Ended at the Little Bighorn, “. . . anyone born of American parents within the borders of the United States of America or its territories is a native American. . .” All who are so blessed to have been born Americans should be grateful for that unearned blessing.

We should continue to remember and honor those who fought to win and preserve our freedoms as a nation. We should honor and support those who labor and even risk their lives to keep our homeland secure. We should also honor those who sacrificed in so many other ways.

In considering Decoration Day, look backward with great gratitude. We should look inward and forward with commitment to rectitude. That way, each day we can honor those who have gone before and sacrificed.  We should be immeasurably grateful to all who sacrificed over centuries to give us the unbounded opportunities and freedoms we enjoy.