It began as a day near the end of May, the 30th to be exact, and over a century later it was designated the last Monday of May, creating a three-day holiday weekend. Memorial Day, or as it was known to earlier generations, Decoration Day, is a day set aside to honor those who gave their lives in our nation’s wars. It later became a time for families to visit the graves of loved ones, enjoy picnics, attend baseball games and automobile races, and to take part in other recreational activities. Today, the summer season begins with Memorial Day weekend.
Decorating the graves of dead warriors with floral tributes is an ancient custom, and no greater devotion to the fallen was known than to those of the Civil War. Among the earliest continuations of this tradition occurred on a “clear and delightful” Thursday morning in Richmond, Virginia on the last day of May 1866 when “business was suspended in the city, and near the entire white population” proceeded to Hollywood Cemetery with floral tributes to decorate the graves of the Confederate dead. A year later in Montgomery, Alabama, “a large gathering of freedmen, mainly women, assembled at the National Cemetery and decorated the graves of Union soldiers.”
While decorating the graves of the fallen was becoming an annual event in many areas of the South, it wasn’t until Gen. John A. Logan, Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) issued General Orders No. 11 on May 5, 1868 that designated May 30, 1868 as the day “for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country” that initiated the first national commemoration honoring Civil War dead. The day before Logan issued his order, the Indianapolis Journal called for a “meeting of our leading citizens at the earliest practicable moment to make arrangements for the decoration of Union soldiers graves at Crown Hill Cemetery.”
At noon on Saturday, May 30, 1868, a salute of artillery signaled the suspension of business and industry for the day. Carriages and street railway cars carried over 10,000 citizens through streets with the Stars and Stripes draped from buildings and residences to Crown Hill Cemetery where ceremonies were held at the Soldiers’ Cemetery. Bands played martial music, clergy offered prayers, hymns were sung, and poetry read. Following remarks by Gov. Conrad Baker, “girls with flower baskets passed through the cemetery bedecking each grave, followed by young ladies, who hung upon each headstone an evergreen wreath.” The formalities concluded with the national flag, which had been at half-staff, run up to full staff, a thirteen-gun artillery salute rendered, Masonic honors given with a bouquet placed upon each grave, and “The Star-Spangled Banner” sung by all.
The dignified exercises of this first Decoration Day in Indianapolis were one of many commemorations held across the northern states honoring Union soldiers who gave their lives in the service of their country. Across the South, similar honors were given to the Confederate dead, but on different dates. The events that ripped the country apart in 1861 continued to divide the country long after hostilities ceased with the North and the South remembering the dead with separate designated Decoration (Memorial) Days.
Subsequent Decoration Days were marked with a holiday air — the closing of public offices and a general closing of businesses. Crowds formed along the downtown streets to view the parade and an afternoon procession made its way to Crown Hill where orations were made, and the graves of the Union dead were decorated with baskets of flowers contributed by public school pupils. Others visited the cemetery and “quietly and unostentatiously strewed flowers and evergreens upon the graves of the loved and honored dead.” Over time “the original inspiration of the custom widened out, and by common consent and official action Decoration Day was changed to Memorial Day,” a uniquely American holiday.
With the passage of years, new diversions presented competing challenges to those commemorating Memorial Day. For many the 30th of May had “become an occasion for sports, such as races and ball games and bicycle rides.” However, fresh graves of fallen Spanish-American War heroes stirred “a renewed interest in the observance of America’s mourning day, especially among the newer generation.” The unfinished soldiers’ and sailors’ monument on the Circle, decorated with flags and red, white, and blue bunting, drew a great crowd in the morning to watch children strew flowers and wreaths around the beautiful pillar before the traditional afternoon ceremonies at Crown Hill. Flags and flowers also decorated the Greenlawn Cemetery graves of Union dead and of Camp Morton Confederate prisoners buried there. Heroes buried at Mt. Jackson Cemetery were also honored as were those at Holy Cross and at smaller cemeteries.
For many, Memorial Day was a sacred time of remembrance, and some took offense if other events occurred on that day. Even the Memorial Day 1907 dedication of the statue of Indiana war hero Gen. Henry W. Lawton by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt on the Court House Plaza drew the rebuke of the G.A.R. Sporting events, especially automobile racing, held on the hallowed day, however, drew the greatest condemnations. Following World War I, the American Legion lobbied the Indiana General Assembly to prohibit the running of the Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day. This effort failed. When the federal Monday Holiday law moved Memorial Day to the last Monday in May in the early 1970s, at long last a happy balance was reached; the Indy 500 could be run on Sunday and solemn ceremonies honoring the fallen heroes could take place on Monday.
The peony, with its large colorful, fragrant blooms, is the flower most closely associated with Memorial Day in Indiana. Many gardens have a half dozen or more plants and taking a bundle of peony blooms to decorate graves continues to be a common Memorial Day family tradition. In addition to taking peonies to Washington Park Cemetery East, my dad would always stop to place a small American flag by the marker of Sgt. Alfred Martin, a member of his Tech High School track team who was killed in Germany in 1945. We also made another stop at Memorial Park Cemetery to place another small American flag by the memorial marker of Samuel Ottenbacher, a Navy aviation radioman who was lost at sea in 1942 when his plane went down in the South Pacific. He also ran track at Tech High School with my dad. Today, my granddaughter helps me continue this tradition. Lest we forget.
