05/25/2026
On Memorial Day 2026, please take a moment to honor the ultimate sacrifices of the men and women who died while serving our nation. The origin for Memorial Day started in the aftermath of the Civil War where communities honored their fallen dead.
One of the earliest and largest ceremonies documented by historians occurred in Charleston, South Carolina. Confederate control of the badly damaged city had ended in February 1865, and Union troops had freed thousands of former slaves there. Among the first tasks taken on was ensuring a proper interment for 257 Union prisoners buried in mass graves near a racetrack at the Washington Race Course and Jockey Club, which had been used as a prison camp by CSA during the Civil War.
After these soldiers had been re-interred in a new cemetery nearby, a crowd of roughly 10,000 people, including former slaves, missionaries, teachers, and Union soldiers, assembled at the racetrack and held a parade on May 1, 1865. The day featured thousands of black schoolchildren carrying armloads of roses, women bearing flowers and wreaths, double-time marches by Union troops, choir performances of the "John Brown's Body," and Bible recitations by local ministers.
