Good morning campers; it's almost Memorial Day and some of you, no doubt, are wondering just exactly what is Memorial Day history. Things like where, how, and when it was started, and the way it became official and so on. In advance of when we all pack up and leave for Grandma’s house, off to the lake or river, or just get away from it all, here’s the 411 on Memorial Day.
Article Source: A Brief Memorial Day History Lesson By Personal Money Store
The Civil War ends and begins Memorial Day history
It wasn't actually called Memorial Day at first. The exact first observance is a matter of debate, but what is known is that right after the conclusion of the Civil War, which certain states haven’t received the memo about yet, days of remembrance were observed by decorating the graves of the fallen. It was called Decoration Day at first, which isn’t the most clever of names. (We have the most drab names for holidays in this country. Maybe some cash until payday for a study group to come up with better names would be in order.)
Veterans get involved
Two Army Generals, John Murray and John Logan took note of an observance of Decoration Day on May 5, 1866 in Waterloo, New York. John Logan, as it turns out, was the head of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization for Civil War veterans. (It became the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War later.) On May 5, 1868, they announced that on May 30 they would observe a Decoration Day, and urged others to do the same. The Southern states usually weren’t receptive as they had a significant case of sour grapes.
Memorial Day becomes official
Memorial Day didn’t get declared an official holiday until 1967. To make things easier for everyone, Congress passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, which fixed Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Columbus Day, and Washington’s Birthday, later to become Presidents Day, on specified Mondays. Ever since then, veterans groups have been trying to get Congress to move it back to May 30 because Mondays are pretty hard to find on calendars. Memorial Day 2010, will fall on May 31.
Read more on this topic here
Memorial Day
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day
No comments:
Post a Comment