Memorial Day 2008

American Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) first began as a tribute to fallen Civil War soldiers. Various towns throughout America had been honoring their lost veterans for several years after the official end of the war. However, it was first widely recognized and celebrated on May 30, 1868, by proclamation of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic.

“In 1966, the federal government, under the direction of President Lyndon Johnson, declared Waterloo, N.Y., the official birthplace of Memorial Day. They chose Waterloo—which had first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866—because the town had made Memorial Day an annual, community-wide event during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.”

In 1971, US Congress declared that Memorial Day would be observed as a national holiday, which would be celebrated on the last Monday in May. And after World War I, many communities across America began to use Memorial Day to honor those soldiers who died in all of America’s wars.

Please take a moment today to say some words of thanks to all soldiers, living or dead, who have fought bravely and sacrificed so much to protect our freedoms.

Confederate Memorial Day: A Tribute

If you’re at all familiar with this blog, you know by now that it’s not often that we have a serious entry or write about something personal. We’d like to take some time today and deviate from our usual format. Both of us had direct ancestors who fought in the Civil War, on both the Union and Confederate sides. Even though our ancestors fought on opposite sides, we honor them by standing together today in our respect and gratitude.


Confederate Memorial Day is a day set aside in the South to pay tribute to those who served with the Confederate forces during the American Civil War. It is observed on April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; on May 10 in North Carolina and South Carolina; on May 30 in Virginia; and on June 3 in Kentucky, Louisiana, and Tennessee.

"At least 618,000 Americans died in the Civil War, and some experts say the toll reached 700,000.

The Union armies had from 2,500,000 to 2,750,000 men. Their losses, by the best estimates:
Battle deaths: 110,070
Disease, etc.: 250,152
Total 360,222

The Confederate strength, known less accurately because of missing records, was from 750,000 to 1,250,000. Its estimated losses:
Battle deaths: 94,000
Disease, etc.: 164,000
Total 258,000"

Photo courtesy of The Civil War