Memorial Day

As we prepare for the weekend and the celebration of Memorial Day, it's interesting to look back at just how this holiday came about.

Decoration Day, as it was known going way back, started when people wanted to put flags and flowers on the graves of those who died in the bloody Civil War.  It began sporadically, in both the north and south, and began to catch on by 1868, three years after the war's end.

In the south, some family members traveled for hundreds of miles to decorate the graves of their loved ones, and it became like a family reunion of sorts including a "dinner on the ground," or a picnic for the living while remembering the dead. 

As time went by the custom grew, and in July 1913 there was a 100th anniversary observance in Gettysburg of the beginning of the Civil War.  This year we prepare to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War and Gettysburg is preparing for this special year in a variety of ways.  It would be a good year to visit Gettysburg and see the place where so many of our young men died.

When I was little, we called it Decoration Day.  I had no idea what that meant really, but one thing for sure -- we put crepe paper streamers on our bike handles and wove crepe paper in and out of the spokes.  Then sometimes we were part of the parade, usually the final grouping of people in the parade.  But I was shy so I probably didn't do it very often, if ever.  I do remember one year marching with the Girl Scouts in the Decoration Day Parade.  During the whole parade route, I kept remembering something that I'd messed up.  I still was wearing my shorty pajama bottoms under my uniform instead of regular underwear, and it was driving me crazy!  The final destination for the parade was an old cemetery where the final observances were always held.

Decoration Day evolved into Memorial Day, and started to include men and women who gave their lives for their country in any field of battle, in any year.  It is certainly much more important than the thousands of sales at the stores or even car sales which have materialized the date.  Even if you don't attend any of the various events in your area, it is good to take a little time and remember those who have made it possible for us to have freedom. 

In Marblehead, Ohio, there is a federal cemetery that few seem to know exist.  It's on 300-acre Johnson's Island, reachable by a thin land bridge where a toll booth at the end takes $1 for its use.  Johnson's Island has become a trendy place for the wealthy to build vacation homes, and you aren't supposed to drive about the island, but once you pay the $1, there is really nothing that makes that impossible.  The homes are really amazing and incongruous with the meager remnants of the prison. 

At one corner of the island is the Civil War Cemetery, a very appropriate place to visit on Memorial Day.  At this place during the war, captured Confederate troops were brought there to wait out the war.  They were ill prepared for the harsh winters and winter winds that buffeted the island.  The chink used in the log houses that made up their prison barracks shrunk too much and the cold penetrated the walls.  Many of the prisoners got pneumonia or other illnesses and died on Johnson's Island.  So far from home, they were buried on the site.  A number of years ago, a concerned group used ground penetrating radar and mapped out the graves.  Some were found outside the perimeter as they had known it.  All of the graves were then marked with permanent stone markers, using old records as a guide.  A number of them are marked as unknown.  The dead came from all over the south and held every rank in the southern army.  The group also had a statue placed on the lake side of the cemetery.

While the winters were horror for the men, summers were something else.  They had plays at the prison and even had flyers printed up for the occasion.  There were other forms of entertainment too, and apparently those incarcerated there made the best of it.  Using an island which at the time was only accessible by boat prevented escapes.  The men were brought there after the train ride to Sandusky.

My nephew has a water ski boat and several years ago he took us to Johnson's Island.  We accessed the coves that wind and twist around the island, and from that vantage point could really see the beautiful houses.  From the water, one can also see the wrought iron archway that marks Johnson's Island where as many as 10,000 men were processed during the war.

If you are interested in knowing more about Johnson's Island, check out www.johnsonsisland.org. 

This weekend, let us remember those who served their country and in so doing, gave their lives.