“In Their Memory.” and another statement about Decoration Day from the May 25, 1888 Independent
IN THEIR MEMORY.
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HOW THE OBSERVANCES OF DECORATION DAY ORIGINATED.
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It Was in the South That Flowers Were First Strewn on the Graves of Soldiers and the Incident Called Forth the Poem, “The Blue and the Gray.”
May 30, 1865, was not a day for sentiment or ceremony in the United States. Never, indeed, in the history of the great republic, had so many exciting events occurred in so brief a time as then; and never again, let us hope, will there be so many sad and anxious hearts. The tears of the bereaved in the north were, it is true, relieved by the smiles which greeted the returning brave from all parts of the south the Union soldiers were coming home; to receive the homage of a nation and live as an honored class, while the poor Confederate sorrowfully sought his desolated home with only wounds and glory for his pay.
At last there was peace. The almost exhausted nation breathed freely again and took account of her hurts. Over 500,000 men had died on the field and in the hospital nearly 500,000 more were disabled; 1,000,000 had been subtracted from the virile force of the country, while wealth had been wasted and money poured out like water. In the north there was mourning enough; but in the south every second plantation was desolate and the commerce of every port was dead, every family wore weeds of woe, every fifth house was in ashes, every third soldier had sunk to his grave. The nation as a whole had breathed freely but a day when its president was assassinated, and the grand review of 200,000 Union veterans at Washington, on the 22d of May, was contemporary with the beginning of the trial of the conspirators. In the south all was uncertainty, their chosen leaders in prison, and all prominent Confederates in doubt of their future. Verily, it was no time for Decoration day ceremonies.
Yet even that early were the beginnings of the custom noted. A few southern ladies on different days, and at widely separated points, had during the spring held simple ceremonies at the cemeteries and garlanded the tombs of their lamented heroes. Early in 1866, by a common impulse, the custom was adopted in the south; the 26th of April was the day selected, and it remains the southern day. Let it be noted that Decoration day had its origin in the south, and that its first general observance was marked by some touching incidents which tended to soften the animosities of the late war.
At Columbus, Miss., where many Federal soldiers were buried, the ladies, in a noble spirit of tenderness and hope for the renewed union, strewed flowers upon the graves of both Federals and Confederates, and from every part of the nation came warm eulogies. There were those who sneered and disapproved this womanly act but The Vicksburg Herald, then published by a Federal and edited by a Confederate veteran, gave this manly tribute.
“We envy not the narrow heartedness of journalists who can find fault with so noble an action. To our mind it speaks volumes for the purity of woman’s character. Our ladies are not politicians—they are Christian women. And while engaged in decorating and preserving the graves of our soldiers, they thought not of warlike strife, nor of vengeance against the dead. They only knew, as they viewed those solitary graves of strangers in a strange land, that they were sleeping far away from home; far from mothers and sisters, and as they dropped the spring roses of our sunny clime upon their silent resting places, it was with the Christian hope that some fair sister in the north, in a like charitable spirit, might not overlook the silent graves of our southern sons which are scattered among them.”
The charitable and patriotic hope thus expressed was not immediately realized; but from many kindred spirits came a warm response, and from the pen of one northern woman came, when this incident was related to her, that touching poem, “The Blue and the Gray.”
Everywhere in the south the day was looked upon as one of sad memories, and people of both colors maintained an air of quiet and mournful respect. So highly was this appreciated at the north that there was a general call for the adoption of the custom, and in May, 1867, in many places, decoration days were observed with appropriate ceremonies. In 1868 the southern day came in the very heat and fury of the first election under the reconstruction acts, and all tender memories were laid aside for the time. Indeed, all testimonies agree that that spring was the season of greatest bitterness ever known in the south and the beautiful customs of Decoration day would have been out of place.
In the meantime, however, the most active Federal soldiers were organized in the Grand Army of the Republic; that organization appointed May 30 as Decoration day. It was generally observed and has steadily grown in the popular affection. On the 5th of May, 1868, John A. Logan, commander-in-chief, and N. P. Chipman, adjutant general of the G. A. R., issued from headquarters in Washington the first general order for posts and comrades to decorate the graves of the dead. It was a document of rare beauty and most unofficial eloquence, concluding thus:
“We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of 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. If other eyes grow dull and other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain to us. Let us, then, at the appointed time gather round their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of spring time; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us, sacred charges upon a nation’s gratitude, the soldier’s and sailor’s widow and orphan.
Thus was this beautiful custom formally established; each successive anniversary finds the people more minded to observe it, and in many parts of the land all the departed are remembered with offerings, and the day bids fair to become our national “Festival for the Dead.” J. H. BEADLE.
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One of the good results flowing from the beautiful ceremonies of Decoration day, is the revival of family fellowship, the reunion of hearts and hands around the grave of a common relative. We all know how easily near relatives become alienated or embittered over questions of property; and how envy creeps in when one is rapidly growing rich and the other growing poor. But when they meet by the grave of a brother or father who served his country, and share in the honor accorded the relatives of the dead, it often happens—many affecting circumstances show it—that the way is opened for a complete reconciliation.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
[Biography of John Hanson Beadle: http://utahgentiles.com/gentiles/Beadle/Beadle-Biographical.htm
An author is not named for the last paragraph, but since it was also published elsewhere, the author may not be the editor, Dudley Crandall.
A complete text of the order issued by John A. Logan and N. P. Chipman is given by the National Cemetery Administration History Program: https://www.cem.va.gov/history/memdayorder.asp ]
Articles relating to Memorial Day
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