4 min readImage of the Day for May 25, 2026In a precursor to Memorial Day, people in Charleston, South Carolina, honored fallen Civil War troops with flowers, songs, and marches at an event at a racetrack on May 1, 1865.NASA Earth ObservatoryMay 25, 2026 Article
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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 Republic declared May 30, 1868, as “Decoration Day”—a day for "strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in the defense of their country"—informal memorials and commemorative events were already happening.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs notes that at least 25 places played a role in the early years of the holiday, including Columbus, Mississippi; Macon, Georgia; Columbus, Georgia; Richmond, Virginia; Boalsburg, Pennsylvania; and Carbondale, Illinois.
