Even after the South seceded from the Union, President Lincoln would not allow any stars to be removed from the flag. |
I am ashamed of myself.
In my excitement for Saturday's Phoenix Comicon, I totally forgot what weekend it is.
Decoration Day or, as you now know it, Memorial Day.
First enacted to honor Union and Confederate soldiers following the Civil War, it was extended after World War I to honor Americans who have died in all wars.
In an article from the Associated Press (which began in 1846 as a way for five competing newspapers to cover the Mexican War):
CHARLESTON — The city that plunged the nation into its bloodiest conflict can also lay a claim to holding the first Memorial Day observance honoring the dead from the Civil War.
In a little known event, as many as 10,000 people, many of them black, gathered May 1, 1865, to hold a parade, hear speeches and dedicate the graves of Union dead in what is now Hampton Park in Charleston.
A number of towns around the nation claim holding the first Memorial Day, although the distinction generally goes to the town of Waterloo, in upstate New York.
Waterloo held its first Memorial Day in 1866.
And thank you for your post. I learned a little something reading it!
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