Confederate Memorial Day

What Is Confederate Memorial Day All About?

This is a state holiday that is shared by eight different southern states of North America. Confederate Memorial Day makes us remember the soldiers who fought and died or were wounded in this bloody American Civil War.

Confederate Memorial Day

Please read on as I discuss more about this important day that helps us commemorate the fallen.

And I will also show you how you can trace your military ancestors too.

Special Dates:

Third Monday in January – Texas (also called Confederate Heroes Day)

Last Monday in April – Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi

April 26th – Florida (moves to Monday if April 26th falls on Sunday)

May 10th – North Carolina and South Carolina (moved to Friday if May 10th falls on Saturday; moved to Monday if May 10th falls on Sunday)

June 3rd – Louisiana

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Express Your Thoughts Below!

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Got Any Military Ancestors?

Do you know whether you had any ancestors who were involved in this war or contributed in some way?

Credit:   Ancestry

If you are not sure then why not check out my Find Civil War Ancestors post where I review a great collection of digital guides that will help you.

If you do know then I would love to hear your story about your family’s history.

So, please comment below and tell me how you remember your ancestors on this special day


The Story Behind Confederate Memorial Day

The American Civil War saw an enormous loss of life with up to 750,000 dying in the four-year war between 1861 and 1865.

Story Behind Confederate Memorial Day

This number surprisingly was far more than the number of Americans who lost their lives in both the First and Second World Wars combined.

But what was this particular war all about?

What were the two sides?

Two sides fought against each other in the American Civil War. On one side was the Union and on the other was the Confederate States of America.

This confederate side was made up of eleven southern states who broke away from the rest of the United States. However, this Confederacy was never officially recognized.

11 confederate states were:

  • South Carolina
  • Mississippi
  • Florida
  • Alabama
  • Georgia
  • Louisiana
  • Texas
  • Virginia
  • Arkansas
  • Tennessee
  • North Carolina

What was this war all about then?

I am glad that you asked. Basically, it was all down to slavery and the abolishment of it. Before Civil War had broken out the North saw no slavery exist whatsoever.

However, this was not the case in the South, where it was seen as both necessary and a part of life for the southerners.

Expansion to the western side of North America was still being explored.

And so there were difficult political and social tensions between both sides as to how to tackle slavery in this new world.

There was already an uprising when Abraham Lincoln was nominated for the presidency of the United States in 1860.

He opposed the expansion of slavery, and as a result of this seven southern states broke away from the Union even before he took office.

These states had various concerns, including political ideals, homes and property, the protection of their families, and also economic loss.

And the war was fought for 4 long bloody wars!

And so the war began on April 2nd, 1861 at the sea fort in Charleston known as Fort Sumter in South Carolina. This is where Confederate artillery fired upon the Union garrison.

Watched by many spectators the fight lasted all day. Due to the supply line being cut off the Union surrendered the following day.

Incidentally, the Union did try to take back the fort two years later on September 8th, 1863.

However, they were again defeated by the Confederates. But they did manage to reduce the fort to rubble in the battle.

The end of the war!

The war effectively came to an end on April 9th when General Robert E Lee surrendered.

This was followed by the surrendering and the capturing of other Confederate Generals.

The last ceasefire occurred on June 23rd, 1865 when Cherokee General Stand Waite surrendered, ending the last significant fights between the North and the South.

There were though naval forces on board the CSS Shenandoah who did not surrender until November 4th.

The following year on August 20th, 1866 President Andrew Johnson signed a Proclamation declaring the end of the war and that peace and tranquility begin.

It is estimated that just over 2 million men fought for the Union whereas there was just half of that fighting for the Confederates.

These battles took place in thousands of different places all over the southern states.


What Can You Do?

There are many different events that you can participate in on this date to commemorate anyone who was affected by the American Civil War.

What can I do?

There are ceremonies, church services, re-enactments of battles, and also displays of relics from the war.

Does it promote racism?

Despite many people commemorating this war and the people involved some feel that this act glorifies a way of life that was only made possible through slavery.

It is seen as promoting racism as it honors people who tried to protect slavery.

The result of this objection has seen many Confederate monuments and reminds being removed from public sight. These include Confederate flags and statues of Confederates.

Due to the many events that took place during these four long wars the fallen are commemorated on various days of the year.

Please see the Special Dates section at the top of this post for a list of dates for the respective states that commemorate the war.

As this is a state holiday then state offices are generally closed. However, federal offices will probably be open as it is not a federal holiday.

It depends on the state whether schools and businesses will be open or not.

Also, there may be some road closure or congestion near the site of battlefields.


My Final Thoughts

Although this event in American history does bring up some strong concerns and emotions for many people I feel that we should commemorate the fallen and anyone affected by this war in some way.

You may wish to participate in a re-enactment or you more comfortable just being a bystander.

You may instead want to read up on the history of the war and look more closely into it than I could do within this short post.

Why not discover your military heritage?

How about you research whether your ancestors fought in the Civil War. Not only will you be able to discover ‘new’ ancestors along the way but you can preserve and pass down this information to generations to come.

The Ancestry website is a great site for you to start your journey. This popular genealogy search website has many military records for you to check and find your war ancestors.

Ancestry.com

Check Out My Ancestry.com Review

But even if you do not find any war ancestors among Ancestry’s records there’s is a very high chance that you will find your ancestors among its billions of records.

And may I add you may also find distant cousins among the millions of members that have subscribed to this website. I wish you all the best on your family history journey.

Further Information!

Why not head on over to Wikipedia to find out more about this special day.


Thank You and Please Leave A Comment

I hope you enjoyed this post giving you a guide as to what Confederate Memorial Day is all about. If you have any questions or comments then please leave a comment below.

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Summary
Article Name
What Is Confederate Memorial Day?
Description
A controversial day, Confederate Memorial Day occurs on several days of the year depending on which southern state you are in. Learn all about this day here.
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The Genealogy Guide
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4 thoughts on “What Is Confederate Memorial Day All About?”

  1. Thanks for your posting about the Confederate Memorial Day. You might be interested in learning more from the Sons of Confederate Veterans http://www.scv.org/new/ of which you can join if you have an ancestor (does not have to be direct) who was a confederate veteran. Good luck with your ancestry search. I am currently waiting for results from an ancestry dna test.

  2. Thank you for this post! I love history and had no idea that they still had these celebrations in the south. I can see both side of concern for still having these holidays but I couldn’t agree with you more about “honoring the fallen and all who was affected by this war” They were only doing what they thought was right. I do have family from the south. It will be interesting to see if I have any that were involved somehow with the war. Thanks again for this great post!!

    1. With the removal of flags and memorials I just wonder how much longer that this will be a state holiday. Even if this does happy I believe that they should all be remembered in some way.

      Personally I think by researching our ancestors we become closer to them. So what better way than to honour them than by finding out all about them.

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