History of Memorial Day - How it all began
The history of Memorial Day began shortly after the end of the Civil War. There were several communities that felt a time should be set aside to signify the end of the war as a remembrance to those who had lost their lives. Among the dozens of other cities and towns, some that were involved in this were Charleston, South Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; Carbondale, Illinois and Boalsburg, Pennsylvania.
The history of Memorial Day continued in 1865 when the man David Blight, a professor of Yale University, suggested that the very first observance should be observed by slaves who were freed and that it should be held at the historic race track in Charleston, South Carolina. The history of Memorial Day tells us that this very site happened to be a former Confederate prison camp along with being a mass grave for soldiers of the Union who had died while in captivity. On this first observance signifying the history of Memorial Day, a parade was held with thousands of freed African Americans and Union soldiers and ended with the singing of patriotic tunes and a picnic.
The history of Memorial Day also tells us that the official birthplace of it is Waterloo, New York. This was a village that was credited with that title because it held the observance on May 5, 1866. Each year after that they continued the observance at that time because General John Murray who was a citizen of Waterloo and General John A. Logan, who was the one who led that call for it to be celebrated and observed yearly and helped to make it a nation wide event, were friends – and this is believed to be a key factor in the search and growth of the observance and importance of the history of Memorial Day.
The history of Memorial Day continued to take shape on June 28, 1968 when the Uniform Holidays Bill was passed by United States Congress. This was the Bill that officially moved three holidays from their traditional dates to Mondays in order to create a long holiday weekend. The history of Memorial Day tells us that it is not an event that is celebrated outside of the United States because its origin in the American Civil War. Other countries remember their military who have died on November 11th which is also the day for remembering Veterans’ in the United States.
To date, it is a federal holiday here in the United States which people gather together in public or at home to observe and honor on the last Monday in May.