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This Week in History: The Origins of Memorial Day

During this week in 1971, Memorial Day is observed on a new date. If you don’t know much about the history of this weekend’s holiday, then you are not alone. To some degree, its origins remain shrouded in mystery.

It all began with the Civil War—the deadliest conflict in American history. More than 600,000 soldiers were killed, and those deaths left gaping holes in communities. Americans all over the country began holding springtime tributes to their fallen soldiers. Soon, some of these tributes started to become more formal.

Would you believe that at least 25 cities claim that their observances were the ones that started it all?!

Waterloo, New York, is one such city. On May 5, 1866, the city may have held an observance in which all businesses were closed so citizens could honor the war dead. A century later, both a congressional resolution and a presidential proclamation would recognize Waterloo as the official birthplace of Memorial Day.

Perhaps they acted in haste? Since then, researchers have uncovered information that casts doubt on the federal designation. Potentially, a simple mistake in an 1883 newspaper article was the source of all the trouble.

Columbus, Georgia, is another city that may have started the holiday. A widow there wrote a letter that was published in many local newspapers. She urged Southerners to set aside one day to put flowers on the graves of the fallen. The letter pushed many people into action—including (confusingly) some ladies in another city named Columbus: Columbus, Mississippi. Those ladies possibly held the very first observance of Memorial Day, laying flowers on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers.

Let’s play the biggest game of kick the can on the internet.