Memorial Day is a federal holiday throughout the United States that honors the men and women who died while in military service. For years, the holiday has been observed on the last Monday in May. Many older people remember this holiday as Decoration Day, which was established in the years following the Civil War to remember both the Union and Confederate soldiers who died between 1861 and 1865.
Community recognition of the Civil War dead began in the South as early as 1861 and continued throughout the Civil War as different cities and towns adopted the practice of honoring the dead. It was slower to take root in the North, but on May 30, 1868, the first official national observance of what would become Memorial Day occurred. Known as Decoration Day, the holiday was proclaimed by Commander-in-Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic. Logan chose this day because he wanted the graves of the fallen soldiers to be decorated with flowers and he figured that by late May flowers would be in bloom across the country. Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis participated in the first Memorial (Decoration) Day celebration in May of 1868. Other communities in Indiana joined this first day of recognition.
Decoration Day then became an important observance for the men and women who died in World War I and subsequent wars and military engagements. Different customs have come and gone over the years as new wars and new generations have observed this important day. One thing that has remained consistent from the beginning has been the tradition of hosting memorial services in cemeteries throughout the county.
When Lew Wallace was the featured speaker on May 30, 1895, at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, he was following practices that had already become important traditions in the years following the war. In 1895, people recognized that the generation that had fought in the Civil War was beginning to pass away at an accelerating rate, so the celebration held additional meaning. As The Indianapolis Journal of May 31, 1895, reported:
“The celebration of Memorial day in this city yesterday was a notable one. Thousands of people entered into the spirit of the occasion and made the day one of the most successful ever celebrated here.”
In 1895, the Memorial Day committee did change things a bit. For years, they had decorated the graves of the fallen in the morning. In 1895, they decided to decorate the individual graves in the afternoon after the grand parade. Past events had hosted orations in Tomlinson Hall in downtown Indianapolis, but in 1895, things were changed and the program was given in the cemetery as garlands of flowers were being distributed to the graves. All of Indianapolis was decorated for the day. Buildings throughout the city were festooned and the new monument on the circle in the center of the city was particularly decorated with flags and banners draping statues and lamp posts.
The day began at 7:00 a.m. with a Reveille being played from the top of the monument. Shortly after noon a crowd began gathering on the Marion County Courthouse grounds and guns were fired in salute. The crowd grew so large that downtown streets were closed as veterans, military companies, civic organizations, school children and the general public thronged the area. Over 2,000 students were gathered on the circle monument under a banner that read: “Teach patriotism in the public schools.”
The grand parade began at the Courthouse with a fleet of carriages with local dignitaries, men on horseback, and dozens of military units moving first down Washington Street toward the monument and then north on Meridian circling the monument and then heading to Union Station. Lew Wallace; Colonel Z.A. Smith, a veteran of the Civil War, a political editorial writer for the Indianapolis Journal and frequent historian of the Civil War; and General Irvin Robbins who served as Adjutant General of the Indiana National Guard from 1893 to 1897, marched together at the head of the first column of veterans. At the station, streetcars were waiting for those who wished to attend the formal services at Crown Hill Cemetery.
Once the crowds began to gather at Crown Hill, the veterans began to reform their line for a formal march through the gates and up the main drive to the soldiers’ plot where a military band was playing. After the Baldheaded Glee Club sang their selection, the program was turned over to favorite son, Major General Lew Wallace for his oration. He opened with the words: “Under our feet, in final rest, sleep thousands of men. Who they were, and how they came here, are memories which should be too sacred to be forgotten in this generation. . .” He continued: “. . .nearly all of them in the morning of life. As all men have a motive in every serious thing they do, what impelled these unfortunates to tear loose from their habits of peace and enter the way which brought them so early to this bitter end? Put questions to your reason, not your love or hate—your reason, not your politics—your best reason.”
Wallace went on in elaborate prose to highlight the accomplishments of Lincoln and his interpretation of the Constitution. He also alluded to the controversial election of 1876 and then challenged the audience to remain vigilant in their study of the Constitution.
As his lengthy oration wound down, General Wallace began his conclusion:
“And now that we are here, shall we do nothing, good friends, but mourn? Shall we content ourselves with tears and offerings, and with saying of the dead, Poor fellows! How brave they were! How good and many! They died for us! Let us do more—let us more than renew our memories of them—more even than swear each to the other that this ceremony shall continue while we live. What more can we do? Well, out yonder, low in the grass are preachers with sermons. Shall we not hear what they are delivering? If we do them the grace, presently they will become prophets aflame with warnings and assurances. . . . ‘Look you’ they say, ‘the rights these died for are holier and stronger because of their death and whoso attacks them will find the faith in those rights a force reserved by the gods for the grinding of their mills, now happily silent in the land. Each of these graves,’ they say, ‘is a guaranty of the sacred observance of those rights in every county of every state, and in behalf of every citizen.’”
Wallace was proud of his service to his country and of the men who served with him. Through his support of veterans as individuals; veterans’ organizations such as the GAR and the Loyal Legion; and his involvement with the creation of the Soldiers’ Home in West Lafayette, the Soldiers & Sailors Monument in Indianapolis, the Civil War Soldiers Monument in Forest Hill Cemetery in Greencastle, and other monuments; and through his involvement as the Federal government began preserving important battlefields, he sought to honor those who fought so bravely to assure the continuance of the country as he knew it. On a Memorial Day almost 160 years ago, Wallace found words to express pride in his comrades and their valiant efforts given in service to their country. This weekend as we celebrate this day, we should remember Wallace’s words, consider the sacrifices of our veterans, and reflect on our future as well as our past.
Thanks: To the Hoosier Chronicles, Indiana’s Digital Historic Newspaper Program
Museum’s Vision
The General Lew Wallace Study and Museum celebrates and renews belief in the power of the individual spirit to affect American history and culture.
Museum’s Mission
The General Lew Wallace Study & Museum is deeply committed to the protection and preservation of Lew Wallace’s legacy now and for generations to come.
