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May 25, 2026
Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared it should be May 30. It is believed the date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country. The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery.
One of the first tributes to the Civil War dead occurred in Columbus, Miss., April 25, 1866, when a group of women visited a cemetery to decorate the graves of Confederate soldiers who had fallen in battle at Shiloh. Nearby were the graves of Union soldiers, neglected because they were the enemy. Disturbed at the sight of the bare graves, the women placed flowers on those graves, as well.
In 1868, Gen. Logan’s ordered his GAR posts to decorate Arlington Cemetery graves “with the choicest flowers of springtime”. Small flags were also placed on the graves, a tradition followed at national cemeteries today.
The commemoration of Decoration Day, or, as it increasingly became known, Memorial Day, continued through the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as an informal patriotic holiday. After World War I, the event was expanded to honor those who died in all American wars.
A congressional resolution in 1966 officially recognized a century of Memorial Day events. The Uniform Monday Holiday Act, legislation enacted in 1968 — effective in 1971 — designated Memorial Day a national holiday and moved it from May 30 to the last Monday in May.
More than 41 million American citizens have served in the military over the course of the nation's history. Approximately 16.5 million Americans are veterans. Beginning with the Revolutionary War, more than 1.2 million members of the military have lost their lives in conflict and more than 645,000 have lost their lives since World War I. On Memorial Day we remember and honor the ultimate sacrifice of the fallen.
“We do not know one promise these men made, one pledge they gave, one word they spoke; but we do know they summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue.”
Congressman James A. Garfield, May 30, 1868, Arlington National Cemetery. President March - September 1881
Credit: Dept. of Veteran's Administration
HistoryLink.org hosts a complete online honor roll of Washington citizens - more than 9,000 - who have given their lives in the service of their communities and country. The honor roll, which is regularly updated, includes men and women who died in the Philippine Insurrection, World War I, World War II (including merchant mariners), Korea, Vietnam, Granada, the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Memorial Day Celebration
May 25 | 10:00 a.m.
Garden of Remembrance, Seattle
The Seattle Garden of Remembrance is a memorial dedicated to honoring more than 8,000 Washington state residents who gave their lives in overseas service from World War II to present-day. It's located on the south and west sides of Benaroya Hall.
February 7, 2026
Let's Talk Football!
If you plan on watching the Super Bowl with friends Sunday, use this article from HistoryLink to impress them with tales of football past. Your friends might be interested to learn that Anacortes High School chose the name Sea Hawks for its football team way back in 1925. Or that in 1903, Chief Joseph attended a UW football game where he watched "a lot of white men almost fight." Or that the Camp Lewis 91st Division team played in the 1918 Rose Bowl. But of course, you'll mostly be talking about the Seattle Seahawks. The team got its start back in 1974 when a group of Seattle businessmen led by the Nordstrom family was awarded an NFL franchise...[more]
January 14, 2026
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Behind the Barbed Wire
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Mercer Island resident Judy Kusakabe will share stories of her Japanese American family, friends and community–before, during and after they were sent to prison camps by the U.S. government during World War II. A panel discussion will follow led by ECAAR (Education Coalition for Asian American Representation), a student-led club at Mercer Island High School focused on promoting AAPI culture, identity, and addressing racial issues through community engagement.
This program is a partnership with the Mercer Island Library and Friends of the Library.
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Thanks to community donations, we have digitized 38 years of the Mercer Island Reporter: 1968 — 2005, accessible for free on-line — at mih.stparchive.com. A special thank you to the donors who've contributed to our digitization project: Cyclemates Bike, the Kiwanis Club of Mercer Island, the Mercer Island Rotary Club and the Mercer Island Community Fund. |
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