Staff Reports
Memorial Day, observed on the last Monday in May, is a solemn U.S. federal holiday dedicated to mourning and honoring all military personnel who died while serving in the United States armed forces.
Originally known as Decoration Day, its history and evolution span over a century.
Following the American Civil War, which claimed over 620,000 lives, communities began holding springtime tributes to decorate fallen soldiers’ graves with flowers and flags.
One of the earliest recorded ceremonies occurred on May 1, 1865, in Charleston, S.C. Newly freed African Americans exhumed Union soldiers from mass, unmarked graves at a Confederate prison camp and reburied them properly, honoring their sacrifice with hymns and a parade.
On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, leader of the Grand Army of the Republic (an organization of Union veterans), established Decoration Day as a national day of remembrance. He selected May 30 because it was a time of year when flowers would be in bloom nationwide.
Initially, the day only honored those lost in the Civil War. However, following the massive casualties of World War I, the holiday was expanded to commemorate American service members who died in all wars.
In 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act to shift Memorial Day from its traditional May 30 observance to the last Monday in May, officially creating a three-day weekend for federal employees. This change took effect in 1971, the same year it was officially declared a federal holiday.
The term “Memorial Day” was first used in 1882, but it did not become more common than “Decoration Day” until after World War II. It was officially declared Memorial Day by an act of Congress in 1971.
