Evidently a number of towns claim to be the first to celebrate the first Memorial Day, but according to David Blight, a Yale historian who has done extensive research of this event, the distinction goes to the African American community of Charleston, SC. The event was held May 1, 1865 as over 10,000 residents, mostly African Americans, gathered to honor the fallen African American Union soldiers. The families gathered for sermons, singing, and picnics at the Planters Racecourse (now Hampton Park), which had been the site of an open air Confederate prison where 267 Union troops died. The soldiers were originally buried in a mass grave but members of local African American churches re-buried them in individual graves that were later moved to national
cemeteries. The South refused to honor the day officially until after World War I when the day was designated to honor fallen soldiers of all wars, not just the Civil War. I never heard this story until a few years ago. As we take time today to honor all fallen soldiers, I think it is important that we also remember the
origins of this day.
A young, unidentified Union Soldier.
Evidently a number of towns claim to be the first to celebrate the first Memorial Day, but according to David Blight, a Yale historian who has done extensive research of this event, the distinction goes to the African American community of Charleston, SC. The event was held May 1, 1865 as over 10,000 residents, mostly African Americans, gathered to honor the fallen African American Union soldiers. The families gathered for sermons, singing, and picnics at the Planters Racecourse (now Hampton Park), which had been the site of an open air Confederate prison where 267 Union troops died. The soldiers were originally buried in a mass grave but members of local African American churches re-buried them in individual graves that were later moved to national cemeteries. The South refused to honor the day officially until after World War I when the day was designated to honor fallen soldiers of all wars, not just the Civil War. I never heard this story until a few years ago. As we take time today to honor all fallen soldiers, I think it is important that we also remember the origins of this day.
A young, unidentified Union Soldier. 
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