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Memorial Day is
a time set aside to remember
those who fought and died serving this great country in battle
establishing and protecting our rights and freedoms.
Memorial Day was originally known as
"Decoration Day" and was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by
General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the
Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on May
30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and
Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.
The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in
1873. Memorial Day was recognized by all of the northern states by
1890. The southern states refused to acknowledge the day, however,
honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I, when
the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in
the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war. It
is now celebrated in nearly every State on the last Monday in May.
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