They were out early, and they were intent on accomplishing the mission upon which they were all in agreement was
necessary, and for which they had all agreed might require the sacrifice of some measure of their dignity. Oh, it was
true that they all had a little trepidation, and it was true that among the group there had been some hesitation, but they
had finally agreed that they would at last go through with their much scrutinized, and in some corners much maligned
mission.
The group of determined citizens met at their prearranged place of rendezvous, and together, with a few others of the
town members, proceeded to their destination. The day had arrived, and on that day they would do the deed, the deed
that other citizens of their community had questioned, the act for which they had already received more than just a little
scorn. But they were determined to carry the thing through, and that day would be the day they did it.
The day came and went, and the intent group of citizens having accomplished their mission, returned to their otherwise
normal pursuits of making a living or just living. The subject of their quest presented itself in conversations throughout
the community and spread by word-of-mouth to other local communities located throughout the state, even throughout
the country. There was much debate about the merits of the action the group had taken that morning, some of it good,
some bad. There were supporters and there were detractors, but the deed had been done, and there would be no
going back.
Then it was that word of what the citizens of that local community had done spread around, and citizens decided to get
in on the act, and so it was that they too performed the same deed in their respective towns. But what of this deed …,
this thing that they had done? What had been done that was so bad? Had the group of citizens not done what so many
people do everyday and with no backlash from the community? Why then indeed would part of the community lauded
the deed as acceptable and necessary, even to the point of being heaped with praise, while part of the community would
be denigrate those citizens who had done the deed with derision and disdain – even contempt?
Oh, would their brothers and their fathers, and in the case of the ladies their husbands not all turn over in their graves if
they had known what they had done? How could they, some in the community wondered …, how could that obstinate
group of local citizens, those who otherwise would be esteemed as pillars of the community have betrayed their own
loved ones in that way? Had they not realized what desecration, what dishonor, what disloyalty they had displayed by
their dastardly act?
For all the talk and for all the gossip and for all the looks of disdain they received the determined group of citizens had
adamantly and forthwith performed the deed for which they had organized themselves, and not only did they do it, but
they pledged among themselves that they would do it again, and again, and they would continue to do it because it was
for them the only right and honorable thing to do. Surely they had loved their fathers, and they had loved their
husbands, and they had loved their brothers; but it was the very love they had for their own that they did this …, this
thing upon which so many had heaped scorn. They knew that there were other citizens around the country that might
be thinking of doing the same thing, and they knew that what they might be doing for the memory of someone else’s
loved one, someone else in another place, of which they did not even know just might be doing the same for the memory
of their own.
Yes, what that group of determined citizens had done to honor the memory of others, they had done in fact to honor the
memory of their own. And on that morning, what they had done, they could not have known would be the first act, the
first installment, the first time, the first …, well, what that group of otherwise cool-headed citizens had done on that cool,
crisp spring morning in the year 1866, they could not have known would be the beginning of an act of remembrance that
would persist to this very day. What they did was to place flowers on the graves of soldiers who had fought and died
during the just past great War between the States, that bloody struggle between the northern states and the southern,
that act of barbarism between brother and brother, and that would precipitate a national holiday that we in the United
States celebrate every year.
Although that day did not become a federal holiday until 1967, the observance for which those citizens performed their
deed has been observed faithfully on the last day of May for many years. The official birthplace of this holiday is
Waterloo, New York, and was so declared way back in 1868, by a member of the federal army who just happened to
reside in Waterloo, and because on May 5 of 1866, a small group of citizens in the community had placed flowers on the
graves of fallen Civil War soldiers who were buried near their community. And seeing that the location was in the state
of New York, and seeing that those citizens had placed flowers on the graves of victor and vanquished alike, one can
see where at the time some would be aghast at bestowing such honor on the enemy, by placing flowers on the grave of
the fallen confederate. Yet, the practice was accepted by other communities both North and South around the country,
and their citizens eventually joined in the practice of placing flowers on the graves of the fallen dead from that four-year
long struggle.
And so it is today. The official date for the beginning of this national holiday is May 5, 1866, and the official place of that
beginning is Waterloo, New York. And that is a fact.
Except that there was another group of determined citizens who had placed flowers on the graves of fallen Civil War
soldiers, and they too had endured much derision from their fellow citizens. This other group of citizens, however, did
not reside in Waterloo, New York, no this other group of locals did not even reside in the state of New York; nor did they
reside in any state north of the Mason Dixon line. No, this other selfless and otherwise determined group of citizens
resided among the vanquished, among the defeated; and it was because of what they did that they received such
derision. How dare they engage in that unbelievable and despicable act of laying flowers on the graves of soldiers who
had fought in the Federal army! How dare they place flowers on the graves of Yankee soldiers! And for that they
endured the chiding of some of their friends and neighbors.
Yet because of the courageous and selfless act of courage of this determined group of citizens; because of the
timeliness of their mission, this other group of citizens had performed their deed before that which was done in New
York. This other group of citizens had actually carried out their task prior to the May 5 group. This other group of
citizens had placed flowers on the graves of the fallen on April 25, 1866, nearly two weeks prior to that which was done
anywhere else in the country. And that is why these locals who lived not in New York, but in Columbus, Mississippi, are
the true progenitors of the national holiday that we now know as Memorial Day.
And that’s a fact!