The forgotten history of Memorial Day
By Richard Gardiner
For The Conversation
In the years following the bitter Civil War, a former Union general took a holiday originated by former Confederates and helped spread it across the entire country.
The holiday was Memorial Day, and this year’s commemoration on May 27 marks the 151st anniversary of its official nationwide observance. The annual commemoration was born in the former Confederate States in 1866 and adopted by the United States in 1868. It is a holiday in which the nation honors its military dead.
Gen. John A. Logan, who headed the largest Union veterans fraternity at that time, the Grand Army of the Republic, is usually credited as being the originator of the holiday.
Yet when Gen. Logan established the holiday, he acknowledged its genesis among the Union’s former enemies, saying, “It was not too late for the Union men of the nation to follow the example of the people of the South.”
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I saw a recent poll asking what was the meaning of Memorial day. Only 42% got the answer right that it's when we honor the nation's military dead.
I remember getting into an argument online with some teabagger who thought Memorial day was when we honored military veterans. When I told him what the real meaning of the holiday his response was, "I don't care what the government says me and my fellow veterans are going to honor each other. My reply was, "You're clearly not a veteran if you don't know the meaning of the holiday."