Confederate Memorial Day
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Confederate Memorial Day, also known as Confederate Decoration Day (Tennessee) and Confederate Heroes Day (Texas), is a holiday in parts of the United States. It is recognized by several states of U.S. South as a day to honor those who died fighting for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.
[edit] States and dates observed:
| State | Date | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Fourth Monday in April | The surrender of Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston to Union General William Sherman on April 26, 1865. |
| Arkansas | January 19 | Robert E. Lee's birthday (state holiday combined with Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday). |
| Florida | April 26 | See Alabama. |
| Georgia | April 26 | See Alabama. |
| North Carolina | May 10 | The death of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson in 1863 and the capture of Confederate president Jefferson Davis in 1865. |
| South Carolina | May 10 | See North Carolina. |
| Kentucky | June 3 | Jefferson Davis' birthday. |
| Louisiana | June 3 | See Kentucky. |
| Mississippi | Last Monday in April | See Alabama. |
| Pennsylvania | Second Saturday in May | Observed by the Pennsylvania Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. |
| Tennessee | June 3 | See Kentucky. |
| Texas | January 19 | See Arkansas. |
| Virginia | Last Monday in May | Same as Memorial Day. |
[edit] History of Confederate Memorial Day
From the May, 1893 issue of "Confederate Veteran," the Origin of Memorial Day
It is a matter of history that Mrs. Chas. J. Williams, of Columbus, Ga., instituted the beautiful custom of decorating soldiers' graves with flowers, a custom which has been adopted throughout the United States. Mrs. Williams was the daughter of Maj. John Howard, of Milledgeville, Ga., and was a superior woman. She married Maj. C. J. Williams on his return from the Mexican War. As colonel of the First Georgia Regulars, of the Army in Virginia, he contracted disease, from which he died in 1862, and was buried in Columbus, Ga.
Mrs. Williams and her little girl visited his grave every day, and often comforted themselves by wreathing it with flowers. While the mother sat abstractly thinking of the loved and lost one, the little one would pluck the weeds from the unmarked soldiers' graves near her father's and cover them with flowers, calling them her soldiers' graves.
After a short time while the dear little girl was summoned by the angels to join her father. The sorely bereaved mother then took charge of these unknown graves for the child's sake, and as she cared for them thought of the thousands of patriot graves throughout the South, far away from home and kindred, and in this way the plan was suggested to her of setting apart one day in each year, that love might pay tribute to valor throughout the Southern States. In March, 1868, she addressed a communication to the Columbus Times, an extract of which I give:
"We beg the assistance of the press and the ladies throughout the South to aid us in the effort to set apart a certain day to be observed from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, and to be handed down through time as a religious custom of the South, to wreathe the graves of our martyred dead with flowers, and we propose the 26th day of April as the day."
She then wrote to the Soldiers' Aid Societies in every Southern State, and they readily responded and reorganized under the name of Memorial Associations. She lived long enough to see her plan adopted all over the South, and in 1868 throughout the United States. Mrs. Williams died April 15, 1874, and was buried with military honors. On each returning Memorial Day the Columbus military march around her grave, and each deposits a floral offering.
The Legislature of Georgia, in 1874, set apart the 26th day of April as a legal holiday in obedience to her request. Would be that every Southern State observed the same day.
