What's Going On: Memorial Day: The most mysterious of America’s holidays

 There aren’t many formal holidays in America.

Easter and Christmas can both have their lineage traced to Christianity and are celebrated worldwide. New Year’s is, well, fairly self-explanatory. 

The Fourth of July is uniquely American and again, easy to pinpoint its history. Thanksgiving doesn’t get a specific date and its history is a little hazy, but for the most part, we know it involved Pilgrims wearing funny hats and generous Native Americans whose descendants probably wished their forefathers weren’t so giving. 

Martin Luther King Jr. Day commemorates the birth of the civil rights leader while Columbus Day honors arguably America’s first racist. 

And then we have our two military themed holidays. Veteran’s Day started simply enough on the 11th day of the 11th month and is designed to celebrate the sacrifices of men and women who served in our armed forces.

And then there’s Memorial Day, arguably the most mysterious of American holidays. 

It originally went by an entirely different name: Decoration Day. 

The reason was family and friends would take time to decorate Civil War soldiers’ graves with flowers. Decorating graves with flowers is also the reason the holiday is celebrated in the late spring instead of, oh say, January, when flowers aren’t exactly abundant. 

While it’s known why the holiday started (decorating Civil War soldiers’ graves), what is far less from certain is when and where the tradition began. 

Some believe it started in New York when a small town druggist suggested in 1865 that in addition to honoring the living Civil War vets, that the townspeople should head down to the cemetery and recognize those who gave their lives in the recently concluded conflict. 

Others claim it started in Charleston, S.C. when a group of former slaves dug up a mass grave of Union soldiers who died at a prison camp and reburied them. 

And then there’s a citation it started in Columbus, Miss., by a group of women who went to the local cemetery added on to a nearby hospital and decorated Union and Confederate graves. 

To make it even more confusing, residents of Columbus, Ga., claim the women were from their fair state instead of Mississippi. 

What’s officially known is after all of these “alleged” ceremonies, Major Gen. John Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic issued an official order in 1868 to decorate the graves at Arlington Cemetery. 

All told though, an estimated 25 cities across this country claim to have been the site of the first Memorial Day service. 

I find it odd not that so many cities lay claim to this tradition, but that it took so long to start. America had its share of conflicts before the Civil War, including the Revolutionary War, French and Indian War and the War of 1812, not to mention the fracas in Texas, to give citizens a chance to come together and honor the sacrifices of the many brave men and women who made this country a reality.

But what’s oddest is it took the nation’s most divisive era, the period of time that nearly destroyed this country, to bring us together as Americans. 

It took death and destruction at a level we had never seen nor never have seen since to make us stop for at least one day and recognize those who gave us so much. 

That is truly a unique American tragedy.

Gregory Orear is the General Manager/Editor of the Red Oak Express and Glenwood Opinion-Tribune. He can be contacted at publisher@redoakexpress.com.