Confederate Memorial Day | Confederate Heroes Day | Confederate Decoration Day
Posted By : manager
Posted : February 12, 2021
Confederate Memorial Day (called Confederate Heroes Day in Texas and Florida, and Confederate Decoration Day in Tennessee) is a cultural holiday observed in several Southern U.S. states on various dates since the end of the War Between the States to remember the estimated 300,000+ Confederate soldiers who died in military service.
An official state holiday in South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee Confederate Heros Day commemorates the ceasing of hostilities of the last major Confederate field army at Bennett Place on Wednesday, April 26, 1865. The holiday is observed in late April in some states
In the spring of 1866 the Ladies Memorial Association of Columbus, Georgia, passed a resolution to set aside one day annually to memorialize the Confederate war dead. Mary Ann Williams, the association secretary, was directed to pen a letter inviting ladies associations in every former Confederate state to join them in the observance.
Their invitation was written in March 1866 and sent to all of the principal cities in the former Confederacy, including Atlanta; Macon; Montgomery; Memphis; Richmond; St. Louis; Alexandria; Columbia; and New Orleans, as well as smaller towns like Staunton, Virginia; Anderson, South Carolina; and Wilmington, North Carolina. The actual date for the holiday was selected by Elizabeth Rutherford Ellis.
She chose April 26, the first anniversary of Confederate General Johnston’s final hold to Union Major General Sherman at Bennett Place. For many in the Confederacy, that date in 1865 marked the end of the War Between the States.
The national Memorial Day holiday is a direct offshoot of the observance begun by the Ladies Memorial Association of Columbus, Georgia in 1866. In a few places, most notably Columbus, Mississippi, and Macon, Georgia, Union graves were decorated during the first observance.
The day was even referred to as Memorial Day by The Baltimore Sun on May 8, 1866, after the ladies organization that started it. The name Confederate Memorial Day was not used until the Northern observance was initiated in 1868.
Statutory holidays for state employees
Confederate Memorial Day is a statutory holiday in Alabama on the fourth Monday in April. In Georgia, the fourth Monday in April was formerly celebrated as Confederate Memorial Day, but beginning in 2016, in response to the Charleston church shooting, the names of Confederate Memorial Day and Robert E. Lee’s Birthday were struck from the state calendar and the statutory holidays were designated simply as “state holidays.” In Mississippi, it is observed on the last Monday in April.
In South Carolina, it is a legal holiday, observed on May 10. In Texas, it is called Confederate Heroes Day and held on January 19 each year. In Tennessee, Confederate Decoration Day is celebrated on June 3, the birthday of Jefferson Davis.
In this post-rational world, that we who believe strongly in the ideals of America now find ourselves. It is more important now than ever to remember our past.
Over 160 years ago a small group for free and proud Southerners chose to defend their homes from large government intrusion. We currently are experiencing similar circumstances. We could learn a lot from studying the lives of these great Americans.