05/25/2026
On this Memorial Day... It is important to remember the history! Decoration Day—the precursor to modern Memorial Day—began in Charleston, South Carolina, on May 1, 1865. Newly freed African Americans and U.S. Colored Troops organized the event to honor fallen Union soldiers buried in a mass grave at a Confederate prison camp.The first Decoration Day was a massive grassroots commemoration that set the tone for the national holiday. Key details of the event include:The Location: The ceremony took place at the Washington Race Course (now Hampton Park), which had been used as a Confederate prison camp.The Participants: An estimated 10,000 people attended, predominantly formerly enslaved Black Americans. The procession featured 3,000 Black schoolchildren, as well as Union troops, ministers, and mutual aid societies.The Tribute: Participants exhumed the bodies of Union soldiers from the mass grave and reburied them properly. The crowd then marched, sang hymns, and decorated the individual graves with flowers.Three years later, on May 30, 1868, General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic formally established a nationwide "Decoration Day". Over the decades, the event expanded to honor all Americans who died in military service and was eventually renamed Memorial Day. 🌹💕🎖️🕊️
