OffBeat Tennessee

  • Home
  • Curious Facts
  • Places
  • History
Home Memorial Day has its roots in Tennessee and in the south but does not include Confederate soldiers

Memorial Day has its roots in Tennessee and in the south but does not include Confederate soldiers

5d3465d2782e7f0151b5b5f3fbd2fb1c

The earliest observance of a Memorial day occurred in Columbus, Mississippi, April 25, 1866, when a group of women visited a cemetery to decorate the graves of Confederate soldiers who had fallen in battle at Shiloh in Tennessee. Nearby were the graves of Union soldiers, neglected because they were the enemy. Disturbed at the sight of the bare graves, the women placed some of their flowers on those graves, as well.

In 1966, Congress and President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, N.Y., the “birthplace” of Memorial Day. There, a ceremony on May 5, 1866, honored local veterans who had fought in the Civil War. Businesses closed and residents flew flags at half-staff. Supporters of Waterloo’s claim say earlier observances in other places were either informal, not community-wide or one-time events.

053010decoration1e_t607

Many Southern states also have their own days for honoring the Confederate dead.  Tennessee officially celebrates on June 3, Jefferson Davis’ birthday and calls that date Confederate Decoration Day.

Gen. Logan’s order for his posts to decorate graves in 1868 “with the choicest flowers of springtime” urged: “We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. … Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.”

P1030750

It’s sometimes called Confederate Memorial Day and was a state holiday in Tennessee for years. In 1969, the state legislature made it a State Day of Special Observance.

In Tennessee, Confederate Decoration Day is celebrated in a number of communities around the state, but there is no statewide observance. Confederate memorial celebrations peaked between 1890 and 1910.

tnproc

Tennessee’s proclamation –  “Confederate soldiers are remembered for their loyalty to comradeship and country; and the south sought an honorable separation, and with equally honorable acquiescence in its failure, re-entered the union to defend its honor and maintain its glory forever; and all states should hold our general government true to the landmarks which our fathers have set.”

 

May 25, 2014Off Beat

GET MORE STUFF LIKE THIS IN YOUR INBOX! Sign up for our daily email and get the stories everyone is talking about.

The Authentic Castle Gwynn in Tennessee, a dream 40 years in the making Beersheba Springs, a beautiful resort town that lost it's spring
More offbeat stories
Sign up to get the latest Offbeat updates daily
Archives
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
Sign up to get Daily updates in your Inbox of stories everyone is talking about



Categories
  • Curious Facts
  • History
  • Places
  • Uncategorized
For story suggestions or to submit a story email us at offbeatten@gmail.com. Also email us if you have anything else you would like to share, we want to hear the offbeat and interesting side of Tennessee
Pages
  • blog
  • Facts, Stories and Places of Tennessee of a curious nature
Recent Posts
  • A child’s playhouse in a cemetery
  • With football season upon us, one Tennessee fan proved he is a diehard Vol with his wedding
  • World’s Longest Yard Sale – yes Tennessee holds that record too
  • Did a Tennessee woman live to be 150 years old?
  • Tennessee is serious when it comes to our lakes, the story of Reelfoot Lake and the Night Riders
2014 © OffBeat Tennessee