Decoration Day

NASA

An Early “Decoration Day” Celebration

The origins of Memorial Day lie in the U.S. Civil War, a conflict that led to the deaths of nearly 700,000 Americans. By the waning days of the war, makeshift military cemeteries had sprung up throughout the country, but especially in the South and Mid-Atlantic, where much of the fighting occurred.  By the time the leader of the veterans’ group Grand Army of the…