graves matter

On May 5, 1866 residents of Waterloo, New York dedicated the day to honoring their Civil War dead:

… all businesses were closed, and the village was decorated with flags at half-mast, draped with evergreens and mourning black. The women of the village gathered at Townsley Hall on Virginia Street to make bouquets of lilacs and pine branches. Veterans, civil societies and residents, led by General Murray, marched to the strains of martial music to the three village cemeteries. There, impressive ceremonies were held, including placing bouquets on each of the graves of fallen comrades, as well as offering prayers and speeches commemorating their sacrifice for their country.^[1]

Credit is given to Waterloo druggist Henry C. Welles for suggesting the idea of decorating the soldiers graves in 1865. After he mentioned his idea the next year to General John B. Murray, a committee was formed and the May 5th commemoration was observed.

Many towns North and South claim to have observed the first Decoration Day. The Library of Congress focuses on the first official nationwide observance on May 30, 1868. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs provides a good overview of Memorial Day. Congress officially recognized Waterloo as the birthplace of Memorial day in 1966. President Lyndon B. Johnson noted the Congressional resolutions in his May 26, 1866 proclamation calling on Americans to pray for peace during the Vietnam War.

Waterloo sure knows how to celebrate all Memorial Day weekend long, but it continues to observe its solemn commemoration on May 30th every year. It will be the same this year; just like 150 years ago three village cemeteries will be visited.

It is written that most claims of the first Memorial Day are “apocryphal legends”. In his book Seneca County Historian Walt Gable explains that all copies of the Waterloo Observer were destroyed in an 1877 fire at the newspaper’s office, so there are apparently no extant copies that covered the May 5th 1866 events. Nevertheless, Mr. Gable points out other sources that document Waterloo’s 1866 observance^[2]

Decoration Day Daisies (1899)

1. ^[1]Gable, Walter Seneca County And The Civil War. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2014. Print. page 127.↩
2. ^[2]ibid. pages 131-132.↩