AFA of PA ACTION ALERT
May 25, 2026
Issue
Memorial Day 2026
Details
As this Memorial Day comes to a close, here’s a little history behind the day:
“On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance later that month. “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” he proclaimed.
The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.
On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.
Many Northern states held similar commemorative events and reprized the tradition in subsequent years; by 1890 each one had made Decoration Day an official state holiday. Southern states, on the other hand, continued to honor their dead on separate days until after World War I.
Memorial Day, as Decoration Day gradually came to be known, originally honored only those lost while fighting in the Civil War. But during World War I the United States found itself embroiled in another major conflict, and the holiday evolved to commemorate American military personnel who died in all wars.” In today’s greatly divided nation, we must remember that the first Decoration Day (now Memorial Day) was an act of reconciliation. After all the speeches, Union veterans and the orphaned children of veterans walked through Arlington scattering flowers on both Union and Confederate graves. For the most part, there was the desire to mend the division caused by the Civil War and unite as one nation under God once again.
Action Steps:
Pray for our nation and the families of those who have lost loved ones in their service to the United States of America.
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