Posted on 05/24/2009 6:27:01 AM PDT by kellynla
Charleston was in ruins.
The peninsula was nearly deserted, the fine houses empty, the streets littered with the debris of fighting and the ash of fires that had burned out weeks before. The Southern gentility was long gone, their cause lost.
In the weeks after the Civil War ended, it was, some said, "a city of the dead."
On a Monday morning that spring, nearly 10,000 former slaves marched onto the grounds of the old Washington Race Course, where wealthy Charleston planters and socialites had gathered in old times. During the final year of the war, the track had been turned into a prison camp. Hundreds of Union soldiers died there.
For two weeks in April, former slaves had worked to bury the soldiers. Now they would give them a proper funeral.
The procession began at 9 a.m. as 2,800 black school children marched by their graves, softly singing "John Brown's Body."
Soon, their voices would give way to the sermons of preachers, then prayer and — later — picnics. It was May 1, 1865, but they called it Decoration Day.
On that day, former Charleston slaves started a tradition that would come to be known as Memorial Day.
(Excerpt) Read more at postandcourier.com ...
The official birthplace of Memorial Day is Waterloo, New York. The village was credited with being the place of origin because it observed the day on May 5, 1866, and each year thereafter. The friendship between General John Murray, a distinguished citizen of Waterloo, and General John A. Logan, who helped bring attention to the event nationwide, likely was a factor in the holiday’s growth.
Columbus, Mississippi. They were observing Memorial Day long before the anyone up North did. The Southern ladies decorated the graves of the Yankees as well as those of the Confederates the last Sunday in May.
Long before 1865? How did they manage that?
Everything of any importance in the US was a black idea originally. There, that settles it......
A good story, but “There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women’s groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War, thus giving it its first name, “Decoration Day”.
The writer seems to ignore the other contributing stories so he could get out this “it was started by slaves” story.
Memorial Day History
http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html
LBJ declared in 1966....plezee!! The first Memorial Day was in Columbus, Mississippi
The Post & Courier has these serial revisions of US History every Sunday...they just refuse to credit any of the actual participants and unerringly find a way to credit some West African immigrant for building this country...this paper has become 99% BullCrap.
It does seem unlikely that Americans would have not had the idea for planning a day to honor their war dead before former slaves decided to contribute.
When did Juneteenth start?
The day before Julyertieth.
Stick to being the self-appointed “posting-police” and leave American history to those of us who studied, learned, remembered, verified and referenced it ...shezzzzzzzzz
And you’ll be the prince of posting revisionist bu11$hit...
“F” off moron
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.