Good morning campers; it's almost Memorial Day and some of you, no doubt, are wondering just exactly what is Memorial Day history. You may want to know how it came about, how it was made official, so on and so forth. So, in advance of packing up to camp out at the lake, go to Grandma's house or just getting from all the noise, here's some of the dish on Memorial Day.
Article Source: A brief Memorial Day history lesson
The Civil War ends and begins Memorial Day history
It was not really called Memorial Day at first. The exact first observance is a matter of debate, but what is known is that right after the conclusion of the Civil War, which certain states haven’t received the memo about yet, days of remembrance were observed by decorating the graves of the fallen. Initially, it was really called Decoration Day, not the most imaginative of names. (Not a soul can come up with an interesting name for a holiday in this country. Maybe some extra cash should get raised for an exploratory study for some new names for our holidays with panache.)
The veterans weigh in
The town of Waterloo, New York, on May 5, 1866, got the attention of two Army Generals, John Logan and John Murray. John Logan, as it turns out, was the head of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization for Civil War veterans. (Later it became the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.) On May 5, 1868, they announced that on May 30 they would observe a Decoration Day, and urged others to do the very same. The South, true to form in opposing something that was not horrible and having a mammoth amount of sour grapes, mostly opposed it.
Memorial Day put on the books
The name Memorial Day didn't become official until 1967. The next year, Congress passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, which moved Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Columbus Day and Presidents Day (then Washington's Birthday) from the traditional specified dates to designated Mondays to make the logistics easier for everyone. Malcontents, especially among veterans organizations, are petitioning to get it moved back to May 30 ever since. Memorial Day 2010, will fall on May 31.
Read more on this topic here
Memorial Day
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day
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