On May 1, 1865, the newly freed slaves of Charleston, South Carolina decided to honor the 257 Union dead from the siege of Charleston. A procession was held that included 3,000 schoolchildren carrying roses. The song “John Brown’s Body” was sung as they paraded. Women with flowers decorated the graves. On April 25, 1866, Mary Ann Williams of the Ladies Memorial Association of Columbus, Georgia proposed a day to decorate the graves of the Confederate dead. While doing so, the ladies also decorated the graves of Union dead, but the theme of the day was respect for men who had died for the Lost Cause. “Decoration Day” caught on in southern states, but also spread to the North as newspapers printed articles praising the women of Columbus for honoring all the dead. The day could be part of conciliation between the North and South. A northern judge named Francis Finch was inspired to write a poem entitled “The Blue and the Grey” which urged forgiveness for the war. It quickly became a much-memorized part of school curriculums both north and south. On May 5, 1868, Gen. John Logan, the leader of the Grand Army of the Republic (an organization for all Union veterans) pushed for a day to recognize all the dead. On May 30, the first remembrance was held at Arlington National Cemetery. General and Misses Grant attended. Speeches were made, followed by prayers and hymns. Flowers were strewn on the graves of both Yankees and Rebels. May 30 had been chosen supposedly because it was a day when all flowers would be in bloom. The day spread through all the states, but most Southern states still insisted on a separate Confederate Memorial Day, usually in April. In 1966, Pres. Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, New York to be the first city to commemorate what would become Memorial Day. On April 25, 1966, the townspeople had closed all businesses and lowered flags to half mast. Flowers were placed on the graves of the fallen. In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day to be a national holiday and placed it on the last Monday in May (from 1868-1970, it had been held on May 30). This was part of the push for more 3-day weekends.
https://www.va.gov/opa/publications/celebrate/memday.pdf
https://www.nytimes.com/article/memorial-day-history.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day
https://fox4kc.com/news/national/the-forgotten-history-of-memorial-day/
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