The History of Memorial Day (Redux)

Podcast Transcript

Every year, on the last Monday in May, the United States honors its war dead. It is often celebrated with parades, cookouts, and ceremonies at military cemeteries.

While many people just think of it as a three-day weekend and the beginning of summer, it is a tradition that extends back over 160 years.

From its 19th-century origins, its path to becoming a federal holiday took over 100 years.

Learn more about Memorial Day, how it got started, and how it is celebrated, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Memorial Day is a uniquely American holiday. While most countries have a day to honor their war dead, only the United States celebrates this day at the end of May.

It should come as no surprise that Memorial Day’s roots go back to the deadliest conflict in American history, the US Civil War.

With over 600,000 soldiers killed, communities across the country were left mourning vast numbers of dead. In the aftermath of the war, various towns and cities began holding local commemorations for fallen soldiers, often in the spring when flowers were in bloom to decorate graves. These early events were frequently known as “Decoration Day.”

The practice of grave decoration was being conducted in the South even before the war had ended. Women would festoon the headstones of fallen relatives and loved ones with flowers.

One of the earliest known formal observances occurred in Charleston, South Carolina, on May 1, 1865, organized by freed slaves, just weeks after the end of the war. They held a ceremony to honor Union soldiers buried in a mass grave at a former Confederate prison camp known as the Race Course

They cleaned and landscaped the burial ground, built an archway reading “Martyrs of the Race Course,” and conducted a parade featuring thousands of Black Charleston residents, Union troops, and white missionaries.

The participants exhumed the bodies, gave them proper burials, built a fence around the cemetery, and held a procession attended by thousands. While this event was largely forgotten for decades, it has gained recognition in recent years as one of the first Memorial Day ceremonies.

After the Civil War, the tradition took hold in the North. Many historians believe that the practice of decorating soldiers’ graves with flowers really took hold after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.

The most widely recognized origin story of the holiday centers on Waterloo, New York. On May 5, 1866, Waterloo held a community-wide observance where businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of Civil War soldiers with flowers and flags. The federal government officially designated Waterloo as Memorial Day’s birthplace in 1966.

However, this “official” designation overlooks the complex reality that dozens of communities conducted similar ceremonies during the same period.

The conclusion of the Civil War also saw the rise of veteran organizations, which began to spring up all over the country. These veteran groups provided a focal point for memorial efforts for the war dead.

Just three years after the end of the war, former Union General John Logan headed the newly formed Grand Army of the Republic, or the GAR. The GAR was a fraternal organization of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

On May 5, 1868, he issued a declaration calling for the creation of a Decoration Day to be observed nationally and annually on May 30th.

There were two reasons for the selection of May 30th. The first was simply the fact that by the end of May, flowers should be in bloom everywhere in the country.

The second reason is that it didn’t commemorate any specific battle, ensuring it wouldn’t favor one military engagement over another. This neutral date helped the observance gain broader acceptance across different regions and military units.

Decoration Day caught on quickly. In 1868, there were 183 celebrations in 27 states, and the following year there were 336.

One of the most noteworthy took place on May 30, 1868.

Arlington National Cemetery hosted the first official Decoration Day ceremony. General James Garfield (who would later become president) gave a speech, and 5,000 participants helped decorate the graves of 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there. The date stuck and was widely adopted in the North.

Despite the growing support for the day, it was still unofficial at this point. Veteran groups around the country mostly organized it.

In 1871, Michigan became the first state to recognize Decoration Day as an official holiday, and every Northern state followed suit over the next 20 years.

Southern states largely ignored the holiday and held their own memorials to honor Confederate soldiers. States like Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas began observing Confederate Memorial Day, often on different dates such as April 26 or June 3, which was Jefferson Davis’s birthday.

For several decades, Northern and Southern celebrations were separate. Georgia declared a Confederate Memorial Day in 1874, and by 1919, 10 Southern states had an official Confederate Memorial Day, which was celebrated on June 4.

During its early decades, Decoration Day served multiple functions beyond simple remembrance. The ceremonies became vehicles for reuniting communities, reinforcing patriotic values, and gradually healing the nation’s sectional wounds.

Veterans’ organizations like the Grand Army of the Republic orchestrated elaborate programs featuring parades, speeches, and collective grave decoration. These events often drew entire communities, making them significant social and civic occasions.

Over time, as more civil war veterans died, the day became less and less about that particular conflict.

Also, annual gatherings of Civil War veterans had become common.

In 1913, a “Blue-Gray Reunion” was held in Washington, D.C., for veterans from both the Union and the Confederacy. This reflected a decrease in the bad feelings that had existed since the end of the war and started a movement towards merging all the national celebrations for fallen soldiers.

The holiday really began to change during the administration of Woodrow Wilson.

Wilson was the first Southerner elected President since the end of the Civil War. By his administration, the number of Civil War veterans had dwindled, and more importantly, the number of US War Dead had grown after the Spanish-American War and, of course, World War I.

With the conclusion of World War I, the day began honoring all fallen American soldiers.

The transformation accelerated after World War II, when the unprecedented scale of American military involvement worldwide created millions of new veterans and thousands of new casualties. Communities adapted their observances to acknowledge service members from multiple conflicts, fundamentally changing the holiday’s scope and meaning.

As the scope of the day expanded, the name of the day began changing as well. Over the years, Memorial Day began to be used in place of Decoration Day.

A crucial shift occurred in 1968 when Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, moving Memorial Day from its traditional May 30th date to the last Monday in May, beginning in 1971.

This change aimed to create three-day weekends for federal employees and stimulate economic activity through increased travel and commerce. However, many veterans’ organizations and traditionalists opposed the move, arguing it prioritized convenience over commemoration and weakened the holiday’s solemn character.

The Monday holiday format contributed to Memorial Day’s gradual commercialization and association with the unofficial beginning of summer.

Retailers began promoting Memorial Day sales, vacation destinations marketed three-day weekend getaways, and many Americans began viewing the holiday primarily as a leisure opportunity rather than a day of remembrance.

Modern Memorial Day observances reflect this tension between commemoration and recreation. Traditional ceremonies continue at national cemeteries, with the most prominent occurring at Arlington National Cemetery, where the president typically places a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Local communities maintain their own traditions, often featuring parades, flag ceremonies, and visits to veterans’ graves.

The National Memorial Day Concert on the U.S. Capitol lawn, broadcast annually since 1989, attempts to restore the holiday’s commemorative focus through mainstream media.

Similarly, the National Moment of Remembrance, established in 2000, encourages all Americans to observe one minute of silence at 3:00 PM local time.

There is often confusion about Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

Memorial Day honors the US war dead, whereas Veterans Day honors all military veterans.

Veterans Day in the United States is observed on November 11, the date on which the armistice ending World War I was signed. In other countries, it is known as Remembrance Day or Armistice Day, and the day often serves the same function as Memorial Day in the United States.

The tradition of wearing poppies, which many other countries observe on Remembrance Day, is usually observed on Memorial Day in the United States.

Because Memorial Day floats, it can occur as early as May 25th and as late as May 31st.

Because Memorial Day is a Federal Holiday and an annual three-day weekend, many traditions surrounding the holiday have nothing to do with honoring the war dead.

Memorial Day has become the unofficial start of summer in the United States. Because the weather is usually good, it usually means cookouts and picnics.

According to fashion tradition, you aren’t supposed to wear a white suit or dress before Memorial Day. This tradition started in the 1930s, when wealthy people would often dress in white during the summer. It isn’t considered a hard and fast rule anymore.

One of the largest sporting events in the country traditionally takes place on Memorial Day weekend: the Indianapolis 500. The track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway can accommodate 400,000 people for large events like the Indianapolis 500.

One of the most common Memorial Day weekend activities is the backyard barbecue or cookout. Families and friends gather to grill burgers, hot dogs, ribs, and other summer staples. These events often include outdoor games, music, and casual socializing. The weekend’s warm weather and three-day stretch make it ideal for hosting parties and picnics.

Memorial Day weekend is also one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. Millions of Americans take advantage of the long weekend to hit the road or catch flights. Popular destinations include beaches, national parks, lakes, and resorts. The travel surge is often seen as a warm-up to the longer summer vacation season.

Retailers aggressively market Memorial Day sales, turning the holiday into a major shopping event. Big-box stores, car dealerships, furniture outlets, and online retailers offer significant discounts, often on large-ticket items like mattresses, appliances, and electronics. These sales have become a major draw, sometimes overshadowing the holiday’s original purpose.

The ongoing challenge for Memorial Day lies in balancing its dual character as both a solemn day of remembrance and a popular holiday marking summer’s beginning. Veterans’ organizations continue advocating for greater emphasis on the holiday’s commemorative purpose, while recognizing that its popular appeal helps maintain its cultural relevance.

This tension reflects deeper questions about how contemporary America relates to its military history and honors those who served. Memorial Day’s comprehensive history reveals not just the evolution of a single holiday, but the changing ways Americans have understood sacrifice, service, and national memory across more than 150 years of observance.

So, whether you are having a cookout or just watching sports on TV, take a moment to recognize the real meaning of Memorial Day and the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice.