The Forgotten Civil War roots of Memorial Day

[SamuelAdams]

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The forgotten Civil War roots of Memorial Day

American Experience | PBS

A federal holiday since 1971, the roots of Memorial Day go back over a century prior, to the end of the Civil War.

After the burial of many Union and Confederate soldiers, "decoration day" rituals began to spring up, which included placing fresh flowers on soldiers' graves.

One of the earliest known celebrations took place in Charleston, South Carolina on May 1, 1865, when the city's freed Black residents organized a proper burial for hundreds of Union soldiers who had died in a Confederate prison, followed by a parade to honor their memory.

In the spring of 1868, General John Logan officially designated May 30th "for the purpose of strewing flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in the defense of their country," and Memorial Day as we know it today was established.

Discover the political and social changes wrought by the conflict's unprecedented death toll in DEATH AND THE CIVIL WAR, now streaming on the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel → https://to.pbs.org/43s0B37