aka Decoration Day

Photo of Arlington National Cemetery with the Washington Memorial in the background courtesy 123rf.com

Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day, and there was a hymn dedicated to Southern women who decorated the graves of the Confederate dead.  For more information click here and click here.  What did you learn today?

Beginnings: U.S.A. and C.S.A.

Map of Southern United States courtesy Gutenburg.org

On this day in 1789, George Washington and John Adams were elected first president and vice-president of the United States of America. 

Sixty-two years later, on this day in 1861 delegates from six Southern states met in Montgomery, Alabama to form the Confederate States of America.  Two weeks later, on February 18 the provisional Congress of the C.S.A. made Jefferson Davis provisional president.

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