“On the sixteenth of April, 1862, some ladies and a chaplain from Michigan were chatting together at Arlington Heights. We present here, hopefully without prejudice or favor, a survey of some of the early instances of the commemorative impulse - along with select references - that much later became the national holiday.ġ3/16? April 1862, Arlington Heights, Virginia
While the issue for many has been to determine, as definitively as may be, the true origin of the tradition, we feel it is more important to observe the power of the impulse to commemorate manifest among so many. Because the need was so great, and because so many responded in similar ways, these numerous early ceremonies tend to blur the origins of this now national tradition. So widespread was the impulse to honor the war dead that observances occurred spontaneously in several locations, unbidden by any political or military authority. Most significant among these was the creation of Memorial Day, an annual national holiday urging citizens to decorate the graves of their soldier dead and observe a day of solemn reflection in gratitude and remembrance. The enormity of human pain and death associated with the Civil War, unprecedented in so many ways, inspired equally novel responses.
