Dear Editor,
A fact I did not know until today pertains to establishment of Memorial Day. The information is in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
As we know Memorial Day is the day our nation pauses to honor the service and sacrifice of our military heroes who gave their lives to secure our freedoms.
However, overlooked is the earliest commemoration of what would later become Memorial Day was organized on May 1, 1865, in Charleston, S.C., at a former Confederate prison camp known as the Martyrs of the Race Course Cemetery. The memorial service was established by over 1,000 newly freed African Americans, U.S. Colored Troops and a small group of White Charlestonians.
This group came together to honor the 257 Union soldiers who died as a result of the poor conditions of the Confederate prison camp during the war. They exhumed the soldiers from a mass grave that the Confederates made and created proper burial grounds for the Union soldiers. Together they sang hymns, placed flowers, and gave readings in honor of the soldiers’ sacrifice.
Thanks
Clyde L. Younger
Watertown Resident