Travels of a Book Loving Mom

* Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service.
* Memorial Day's origins go all the back to the Civil War. It was at the end of a brutal war, a war in which brother fought brother and the best of friends became the worst of enemies.
* During the first celebration of Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery.
* It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971).
* It is the unofficial kick off to summer. To honor those Americans who died fighting for our freedom, we have parades, lay flowers on the graves of our lost Americans, we gather together with family and friends and barbecue to remember.
* Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was first observed on 30 May 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. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states.