On Memorial Day, Formerly Decoration Day

"God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it."
- Daniel Webster

In 1971, the Congress legislated Memorial Day into existence. It took the place of a holiday known as Decoration Day. 

Decoration Day began on May 1^st, 1865. Days before the first Decoration Day, the Civil War had ended, and President Lincoln had been assassinated at a coward's hand in Ford’s Theatre. The Washington Course – a race track in Charleston, South Carolina – had been converted during the war into an open-air prison where Union Soldiers were held, sick and half-starved. Part of that land was set aside for burying the Union dead in unmarked graves. And that is how it stood in May of 1865.

Freedmen – African American former slaves – assembled to celebrate the end of the war. As part of that observance, a day-long funeral was held at Washington Course. The Union dead were carefully and respectfully re-interred. Flowers were placed on each grave. Prayers were spoken. The song John Brown’s Body was sung. 

John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,
John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,
But his soul goes marching on.

Chorus:
Glory, glory, hallelujah,

Glory, glory, hallelujah,
His soul goes marching on.

He's gone to be a soldier in the Army of the Lord,

He's gone to be a soldier in the Army of the Lord,
His soul goes marching on.
Chorus

John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back,
John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back,
His soul goes marching on.
Chorus

John Brown died that the slaves might be free,
John Brown died that the slaves might be free,
His soul goes marching on.
Chorus

The stars above in Heaven now are looking kindly down,
The stars above in Heaven now are looking kindly down,
His soul goes marching on.
(source)

The John Brown in question – as students of history will know – was a white man born in Connecticut in the year 1800. In a bold plan to establish a colony for runaway slaves, he’d launched a raid against the Harper’s Ferry armory. Captured and convicted of treason, he died on the scaffold. 

John Brown (source)

Thanks to historian David Blight (source), the story of the first Decoration Day was rescued from obscurity. Despite the historical artifacts attesting to the fact of the event having occurred, the story was not passed along. Other states had brought forward their own claims about where the first Decoration Day had occurred, asserting that the widows of Confederate soldiers were the ones who had started the tradition.

And this was, after all, the 19^th century: the very apogee of sentimentality in the Western World. The narrative of grieving Southern widows served the purpose of reunifying North and South. It was an easier narrative to assimilate than the one about former slaves who -- despite the dehumanizing treatment they'd suffered -- were able to exemplify the virtues of decency and humanity by thanking those who had died on their behalf. Their natural right to liberty finally recognized, the Freedmen wished only to be Americans.

Approximately 360,000 Union soldiers gave their lives in order to finally expunge the evil of slavery from the United States (source). And 258,000 Confederate soldiers gave their lives to advance their economic self-interest: to defend the cotton trade and States' Rights, to protest high tariffs, and preserve the right to buy, sell, and keep human beings as though they were mere chattels.These words are not intended to vilify Southerners then or now, but to convey the undeniable truth that human beings are always tempted by their self-interest, and there will always be conflict between the desire of a few to advance their own fortunes, and the desire of the many to make life more equitable for all people.

Decoration Day, Sentimentalized

That first Decoration Day was a remarkable moment. African Americans, on that day, decided not to cling to a sense of grievance at the fact that they’d been enslaved, but instead chose to thank those who had died seeking to liberate them. They understood, maybe, that human beings are inclined to engaging in venal, despicable acts against one another. Maybe they understood that what is most worthy of remembrance is the fact that there are always some who will stand up against injustice, even if it is at the cost of their own lives. 

Political leaders have led this country into unjust wars, but it is not the place of the soldier to question orders, and the shame and the responsibility of permitting this country to wage unjust wars belongs to all Americans. The important point is this: a review of history will show that, when there are tyrants to be overthrown, and liberty to be restored, no one -- not today, nor in the distant past – is as ready to sacrifice his or her own life as the American soldier. This truth is something that neither cynicism nor corruption can take away from us.

Just as the eyes of John Brown did, the eyes of the American soldier blaze. These eyes blaze with a grim determination, they see through the mist of lies and equivocation, and discern the truth: liberty comes at a high price, and it is a price worth paying.