For Columbus residents, the arrival of the Memorial Day weekend has a special dimension. Columbus is one of 25 cities that have laid claim as the “birthplace” of what is now known as Memorial Day, a topic that local historian Rufus Ward continues to explore in his column. His column on the topic has become part of the local Memorial Day tradition. Each time he takes up the subject, he seems to discover a new wrinkle, something for readers to look forward to.
Part of Columbus’ claim on the holiday, originally known as Decoration Day, is that it is the first known instance where flowers were laid on the graves of Confederate and Union soldiers alike.
It’s easy enough today to be unaware of what a remarkable act this was because the nature of the day in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War – the greatest human tragedy in our nation’s history – hardly resembles modern Memorial Day.
For starters, it has only been a federal holiday for 53 years. In that time, the meaning of Memorial Day has expanded from a day set aside to honor Americans who have died in all of its wars – a figure quickly approaching 1.4 million – to include the unofficial start of summer. It’s become something of a hybrid holiday – a commemoration and a celebration.
Today, the holiday is most often observed with back-yard barbecues, parties, family gatherings and summer fun: boating, swimming, etc. That is not to say the holiday does not include observances to honor its original intent. It’s just that the holiday is not an entirely somber event, even where the memories of the fallen are best observed and honored.
It is far different now than it must have been on April 25th, 1866 when that group of Columbus ladies laid flowers on the Civil War dead at Friendship Cemetery.
Just a year removed from the end of the war, the South was in tatters, economically, physically and psychologically. Those graves they decorated were freshly dug from an historical perspective, and the deaths of those interred there were painful and personal, losses to be mourned. In fact, accounts of many of those early Decoration Days across the country noted that black crepe paper – then a symbol of mourning – were draped on homes and buildings.
Those initial observances weren’t an effort to conjure up memories of the forgotten dead as they might be today. They were a part of the mourning process for the known dead, whose families still grieved, whose absences were deeply felt.
That the ladies of Columbus, in their grief and mourning, would also honor the dead of a Union army that spelled their ruin and laid so many family members, friends and neighbors in their graves is a remarkable act of grace and reconciliation.
This weekend, we will observe Memorial Day in our own way and no matter how we approach it, it will not be a day devoted to mourning.
That is not to say that it is not worth remembering when the day meant little else.
Perhaps it will provide a perspective that grows our appreciation of our military dead.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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