McLean County Times

U.S. citizens recently enjoyed a three-day weekend to honor veterans with BBQs, festivities and ceremonies.

“Take a moment to remember and honor the service members who have given their lives so that we can be free,” Rep. Dan Brady wrote on Facebook. “Let us never forget their sacrifice, courage and devotion to our nation.”

What we now know as Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day, according to History.com. The first Decoration Day occurred on May 30, 1868, a few years after the end of the Civil War. History.com stated that the day was created “by proclamation of Major General John Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, the first major Memorial Day observance is held to honor those who died 'in defense of their country during the late rebellion.'”

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Memorial Day became a federal holiday in 1971.

“Although not known by many today, the early evolution of the Memorial Day holiday was a manifestation of Lincoln’s hope for reconciliation between North and South,” the late Richard Gardiner, who was a professor at the Columbia State University, wrote in a column in the Kansas Reflector.

Logan was an Illinois resident. A celebration in Carbondale, on April 29, 1866, is thought to be the first community-wide observance of Decoration Day, Journal Courier reported, and 212 veterans from the area participated.

Gardiner added in his column that Francis Miles Finch, a Northern judge, academic and poet, wrote a poem titled “The Blue and the Gray” that showed forgiveness to the South during the Civil War. The professor added Logan knew of Finch’s sentimentalism. 

“Almost immediately, the poem circulated across America in books, magazines and newspapers,” Gardiner continued in the column. “By the end of the 19th century, school children everywhere were required to memorize Finch’s poem. The ubiquitous publication of Finch’s rhyme meant that by the end of 1867, the southern Memorial Day holiday was a familiar phenomenon throughout the entire, and recently reunited, country.”

There were a variety of parades and events to mark Memorial Day 2022 across the state, the Belleville News-Democrat reported.