Editing Memorial Day (section)

== Precedents in the South ==

=== Virginia ===
[[File:Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia - Decorating the graves of the Rebel soldiers, May 31, 1867 (16682540833).jpg|thumb|1867 Decoration Day in [[Richmond, Virginia]]'s [[Hollywood Cemetery (Richmond, Virginia)|Hollywood Cemetery]]]]

On June 3, 1861, [[Warrenton, Virginia]] was the location of the first [[Civil war|Civil War]] soldier's grave to be decorated, according to an article in the ''[[Richmond Times-Dispatch]]'' in 1906.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2001.05.0293%3Achapter%3D1.73 |title=Times-Dispatch |publisher=Perseus.tufts.edu |date=July 15, 1906 |access-date=April 7, 2014 |archive-date=July 2, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702144441/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2001.05.0293%3Achapter%3D1.73 |url-status=live }}</ref> This decoration was for the funeral of the first soldier killed during the Civil War, [[John Quincy Marr]], who died on June 1, 1861, during a skirmish at the [[Battle of Fairfax Court House (June 1861)|Battle of Fairfax Courthouse]] in Virginia.<ref>Poland Jr., Charles P. ''The Glories Of War: Small Battles And Early Heroes Of 1861.'' Bloomington, IN (2006), 42.</ref>

=== Jackson, Mississippi ===
On April 26, 1865, in [[Jackson, Mississippi]], [[Sue Landon Vaughan]] decorated the graves of [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] and [[Union army|Union]] soldiers according to her account. The first reference to this event however did not appear until many years later.<ref name="Bellware 2014">{{Cite book |last=Bellware |first=Daniel |date=2014 |title=The Genesis of the Memorial Day holiday in America |publisher=Columbus State University |isbn=9780692292259 |oclc=898066352 }}</ref> Mention of the observance is inscribed on the southeast panel of the [[Confederate Monument (Jackson, Mississippi)|Confederate Monument]] in Jackson, erected in 1891.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMWD72_Mississippi_Confederate_Monument_Jackson_MS |title=Mississippi Confederate Monument – Jackson, MS |website=WayMarking.com |access-date=October 30, 2019 |archive-date=October 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030221243/https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMWD72_Mississippi_Confederate_Monument_Jackson_MS |url-status=live }}</ref> Vaughan's account is contradicted by contemporary sources.<ref name="auto" />

=== Charleston, South Carolina ===
On May 1, 1865, in [[Charleston, South Carolina]], the recently freed Black population held a parade of 10,000 people to honor 257 dead Union soldiers. The soldiers had been buried in a mass grave at the Washington Race Course, having died at the Confederate prison camp located there. After the city fell, the freed Black population unearthed and properly buried the soldiers, placing flowers at their graves. The event was reported contemporaneously in the ''[[Charleston Daily Courier]]'' and the ''[[New-York Tribune]].''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Roos |first=Dave |title=One of the Earliest Memorial Day Ceremonies Was Held by Freed African Americans |url=https://www.history.com/news/memorial-day-civil-war-slavery-charleston |access-date=May 30, 2022 |website=History.com |date=May 24, 2019 |archive-date=May 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220530142431/https://www.history.com/news/memorial-day-civil-war-slavery-charleston |url-status=live }}</ref> Historian [[David Blight]] has called this commemoration the first Memorial Day. However, no direct link has been established between this event and General [[John A. Logan|John Logan]]'s 1868 proclamation for a national holiday.<ref>{{cite web |last=Blight |first=David W. |url=http://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-119/lecture-19 |title=Lecture: To Appomattox and Beyond: The End of the War and a Search for Meanings, Overview |website=Oyc.Yale.edu |quote=Professor Blight closes his lecture with a description of the first Memorial Day, celebrated by African Americans in Charleston, SC 1865. |access-date=May 31, 2014 |archive-date=May 30, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140530094526/http://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-119/lecture-19 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/us/many-claim-to-be-memorial-day-birthplace.html David Blight, cited by Campbell Robertson, "Birthplace of Memorial Day? That Depends Where You're From", ''The New York Times'', May 28, 2012] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170617112424/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/us/many-claim-to-be-memorial-day-birthplace.html |date=June 17, 2017 }} – Blight quote from 2nd web page: "He has called that the first Memorial Day, as it predated most of the other contenders, though he said he has no evidence that it led to General Logan's call for a national holiday."</ref><ref name="The Origins of Memorial Day" />

=== Columbus, Georgia ===
{{Quote box
 |quote  = . . . [W]e can keep alive the memory of debt we owe them by dedicating
at least one day in the year, by embellishing their humble graves with
flowers, therefore we beg the assistance of the press and the ladies
throughout the South to help us in the effort to set apart a certain day
to be observed, from the [[Potomac River|Potomac]] to the [[Rio Grande]] and be handed
down through time as a religious custom of the country, to wreathe the
graves of our martyred dead with flowers. . . Let the soldiers’ graves,
for that day at least, be the Southern [[Mecca]], to whose shrine her
sorrowing women, like pilgrims, may annually bring their grateful
hearts and floral offerings. . . 
 |author = —[[Mary Ann Williams]] 
 |source = March 11, 1866<ref name="auto" />
 |width  = 33%
 |align  = right
}}

The [[United States National Cemetery System|National Cemetery Administration]], a division of the [[United States Department of Veterans Affairs|Department of Veterans Affairs]],<ref name=":0" /> and scholars attribute the beginning of a Memorial Day practice in [[The Southern United States|the South]] to a group of women of [[Columbus, Georgia]].<ref name="Bellware 2014" /><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CVXUcyJlgLkC&pg=PA190 |title=The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History |first1=Gary W. |last1=Gallagher |first2=Alan T. |last2=Nolan |date=2000 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=9780253109026 |access-date=May 25, 2020 |via=Google Books }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P9t-CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT26|title=No Holier Spot of Ground: Confederate Monuments & Cemeteries of South Carolina|first=Kristina Dunn|last=Johnson|date=2009|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=9781614232827|access-date=May 25, 2020 |via=Google Books }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CyQF6pKZ61YC&pg=PA103|title=Mystic Chords of Memory: The Transformation of Tradition in American Culture|first=Michael|last=Kammen|date= 2011|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=9780307761408|access-date=May 25, 2020|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://thesouthern.com/news/local/a-complicated-journey-the-story-of-logan-and-memorial-day/article_57e2de05-b9b1-5237-b933-0d43fb8492d7.html |title=A 'complicated' journey: The story of Logan and Memorial Day |first=Tom |last=English |website=The Southern |date=May 22, 2015 |access-date=May 25, 2020 |archive-date=May 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531181237/https://thesouthern.com/news/local/a-complicated-journey-the-story-of-logan-and-memorial-day/article_57e2de05-b9b1-5237-b933-0d43fb8492d7.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hUEOAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA246 |title=Mrs. Logan's Memoirs |page=246 |via=Google Books |access-date=April 7, 2014 |date=1913 |last=Logan|first=Mrs. John A. }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/us/many-claim-to-be-memorial-day-birthplace.html |title=Birthplace of Memorial Day? That Depends Where You're From |date=May 27, 2012 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=February 27, 2017 |archive-date=June 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170617112424/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/us/many-claim-to-be-memorial-day-birthplace.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The women were the [[Ladies' Memorial Association|Ladies Memorial Association]] of Columbus. They were represented by [[Mary Ann Williams]] (Mrs. Charles J. Williams) who as association secretary wrote an [[open letter]] to the press on March 11, 1866<ref name="auto" /> asking for assistance in establishing an annual holiday to decorate the graves of soldiers throughout the South.<ref name="Jones 2015">{{cite news |last=Jones |first=Michael |title=Memorial Day's Roots Traced to Georgia |url=http://www.nwherald.com/2015/05/21/guest-view-memorial-days-roots-traced-to-georgia/a6p06gb/ |newspaper=Northwest Herald |date=May 23, 2015 |access-date=May 10, 2016 |archive-date=June 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603170409/http://www.nwherald.com/2015/05/21/guest-view-memorial-days-roots-traced-to-georgia/a6p06gb/ |url-status=live }}</ref>  The letter was reprinted in several southern states and the plans were noted in newspapers in [[Northern United States|the North]]. The date of April 26 was chosen, which corresponded with the end date of the war with the [[Bennett Place|surrender agreement]] between Generals [[Joseph E. Johnston|Johnston]] and [[William Tecumseh Sherman|Sherman]] in 1865.<ref name="auto" />

The holiday was observed in Atlanta, Augusta, Macon, Columbus and elsewhere in Georgia as well as Montgomery, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; Louisville, Kentucky; New Orleans, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi, and across the South.<ref name="Bellware 2014" />  In some cities, mostly in Virginia, other dates in May and June were observed. General John Logan commented on the observances in a speech to veterans on July 4, 1866, in [[Salem, Illinois]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/05/26/contested-confederate-roots-memorial-day/ |title=Memorial Day's Confederate Roots: Who Really Invented the Holiday? |last=Brockell |first=Gillian |date=May 27, 2019 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=October 9, 2019 |archive-date=June 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609080226/https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/05/26/contested-confederate-roots-memorial-day/ |url-status=live }}</ref> After General Logan's General Order No. 11 to the [[Grand Army of the Republic]] to observe May 30, 1868, the earlier version of the holiday began to be referred to as [[Confederate Memorial Day]].<ref name="Bellware 2014" />

=== Columbus, Mississippi ===
Following Mary William's call for assistance,<ref name=":0" /> four women of [[Columbus, Mississippi]] a day early on April 25, 1866, gathered together at [[Friendship Cemetery]] to decorate the graves of the Confederate soldiers. They also felt moved to honor the Union soldiers buried there, and to note the grief of their families, by decorating their graves as well. The story of their gesture of humanity and reconciliation is held by some writers as the inspiration of the original Memorial Day.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/05/a-real-story-of-memorial-day/371497/|title=A Real Story of Memorial Day|last=Fallows|first=Deborah|date=May 23, 2014|website=The Atlantic|access-date=January 21, 2020|archive-date=June 13, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170613232901/https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/05/a-real-story-of-memorial-day/371497/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://relicrecord.com/blog/decoration-day-origins-memorial-day/ |title=Decoration Day & The Origins Of Memorial Day |last=Adams |first=Will |date=May 25, 2017 |website=RelicRecord |access-date=January 21, 2020 |archive-date=June 13, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613000504/https://relicrecord.com/blog/decoration-day-origins-memorial-day/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=8552 |title=Confederate Decoration Day Historical Marker |website=Hmdb.org |access-date=January 21, 2020 |archive-date=June 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612152812/https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=8552 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2018/05/28/graves-union-soldiers-buried-unmarked-graves-columbus/646666002/|title=MSU library, Ole Miss anthropologist, local historian search for Union graves|website=The Clarion Ledger|access-date=January 21, 2020|archive-date=May 31, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531181237/https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2018/05/28/graves-union-soldiers-buried-unmarked-graves-columbus/646666002/|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Other Southern precedents ===
According to the [[United States Library of Congress]], "Southern women decorated the graves of soldiers even before the Civil War’s end. Records show that by 1865, Mississippi, Virginia, and South Carolina all had precedents for Memorial Day."<ref>{{cite web |title=Today in History – May 30 – Memorial Day |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/may-30/ |publisher=United States Library of Congress |access-date=May 28, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525183156/https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/may-30/ |archive-date=May 25, 2019}}</ref> The earliest Southern Memorial Day celebrations were simple, somber occasions for veterans and their families to honor the dead and tend to local cemeteries.<ref name="Center(Firm)2000">{{cite book|title=America, history and life|publisher=Clio Press|date=2000|page=190|author1=University of Michigan|author2=EBSCO Publishing (Firm)}}</ref> In following years, the Ladies' Memorial Association and other groups increasingly focused rituals on preserving Confederate culture and the [[Lost Cause of the Confederacy]] narrative.<ref name="auto1">{{cite book|author=Karen L. Cox|title=Dixie's Daughters: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Preservation of Confederate Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U_jpxKJDleQC&pg=PA11 |date=2003 |publisher=University Press of Florida|page=11|isbn=978-0813031330 }}</ref>