Memorial Day: A North/South Historical Controversy

During my adult life I have had the privileged to live in many places including Boalsburg, Pennsylvania and Starkville, Mississippi which is near Columbus, Mississippi.  Both Boalsburg and Columbus claim they are the birthplace of Memorial Day.   I am no historian but I was thinking of Memorial Day and wanted to write about my experiences of both of these towns. 

Boalsburg is a very small town with a lot of history.  There are shops that have been around since the 1600’s.  There is even a mansion built by a descendent of Christopher Columbus.  The chapel on the mansion grounds comes from Spain.  I toured the mansion one year while I lived in Boalsburg.  It is beautiful and very ornate.  You can also visit the mansion virtually at this website: http://www.boalmuseum.com/virtual-tour.html  

Boalsburg’s claim to Memorial Day story can be found here http://www.boalsburgvillage.com/the-story-of-memorial-day.html

The story talks about how three women went to the cemetery to put flowers on the graves of soldiers who died in the Civil War.  The date was 1864.  They decided to do it again the following year and invited the townspeople to join them.  The next year most of the town showed up to walk to the cemetery.  This tradition has continued to this day. 

I lived right in Boalsburg and have experienced their yearly tradition on Memorial Day.  I lived there from 1990 to 1993.  I was able to go one year.  Everyone met in the town square and walked together to the cemetery.  Several of the townspeople were dress in the Civil War period dress.  That year they had a speaker who looked just like Abraham Lincoln give the Gettysburg Address.  It was awesome and now I wish I had a camera.

I did not live in Columbus, Mississippi but in a nearby town called Starkville.  However,  I have made several trips to Columbus during the five years I lived in Starkville and have toured some of the historic homes.  I do not remember much of Columbus, Mississippi but I do remember they also claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day.  Their story is more renown because it was published in New York newspapers and a poem was written about it.  Wikipedia reports:

One of the hospitals was located at Annunciation Catholic Church, built in 1863 and still operating in the 21st century. The decision of a group of ladies to decorate the Union and Confederate graves with flowers together on April 25, 1866, is an early example of what became known as Memorial Day. A poet, Francis Miles Finch, read about it in the New York newspapers and commemorated the occasion with the poem “The Blue and the Grey”.[10] Bellware and Gardiner noted this observance of the holiday in The Genesis of the Memorial Day Holiday in America (2014). They recognized the events in Columbus as the earliest manifestation of an annual spring holiday to decorate the grave of Southern soldiers. While the call was to celebrate on April 26, several newspapers reported that the day was the 25th, in error.[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus,_Mississippi

Notice the date as 1866.  This is a whole two years after the three ladies of Boalsburg went and decorated the graves of the fallen.  Yet an article in the Atlantic (https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/05/a-real-story-of-memorial-day/371497/) says Columbus, Mississippi is the real story of Memorial Day.  My opinion may not matter much to historians and newspapers but I believe Boalsburg is the first place where Memorial Day started.  My reasoning is Boalsburg is a very small town compared to Columbus.  Also, the Boalsburg celebration did not make the New York newspapers.  And finally, the Boalsburg tradition started two years earlier and has continued without stopping since 1864.

But what really matters is not the debate of when Memorial Day started but why it started.  To Honor those who gave their lives for this country!  I work with a Marine who served several years.  I asked him if he would like to share his thoughts on Memorial Day.  He said “Memorial Day is not a day to be celebrated but to be observed in honor of the fallen.”  Michael, U.S. Marine

Photo borrowed from the Boalsburg website.

Even though this is written for children I thought this would be an interesting read around Memorial Day.

The Wall By Eve Bunting This is the wall, my grandfather’s wall. On it are the names of those killed in a war, long ago. So begins the story of a little boy and his father. They’ve come from far away to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington and find the name of the boy’s grandfather. Other visitors pass by, searching for the names of their loved ones. Finally, the father’s fingers stop moving along the wall. “Here he is,” he says. This restrained yet moving picture book deals with the lasting impact of the Vietnam War. It’s a good story for Memorial Day, Veterans Day, or any other day when children and grown-ups are thinking about war and its consequences. Recommended for ages 4 to 8.