Confederate Memorial Day (calledConfederate Heroes Day inTexas andFlorida, andConfederate Decoration Day inTennessee) is aholiday observed in severalSouthern U.S. states on various dates since the end of theAmerican Civil War. The holiday was originally publicly presented as a day to remember the estimated 258,000Confederatesoldiers who died during the American Civil War.[1]
The holiday originated at a local level byLadies' Memorial Associations to care for the graves of Confederate dead.[2] In 1866, GeneralJohn A. Logan commanded the posts ofGrand Army of the Republic to strew flowers on the graves ofUnion soldiers, which observance later became thenational Memorial Day. In a speech to veterans inSalem, Illinois, on July 4, 1866, Logan referred to the various dates of observance adopted in the South for the practice, saying "…traitors in the South have their gatherings day after day, to strew garlands of flowers upon the graves of Rebel soldiers..."[3]
TheSouthern Poverty Law Center has condemned the holiday as part of a campaign of "racial terror" on the part ofwhite supremacists - "an organized propaganda campaign, created to instill fear and ensure the ongoing oppression of formerly enslaved people."[4] Writers and historians have pointed out that the holiday's official recognition by states often coincided with the height ofJim Crow racism around the United States, decades after the war ended.[5][6] Renewed interest also revived the holiday in some places during the beginning of thecivil rights movement in the 1950s.[7]
The first official celebration as a public holiday occurred in 1874, following a proclamation by the Georgia legislature.[25] By 1916, ten states celebrated it, on June 3, the birthday of CSA PresidentJefferson Davis.[25] Other states chose late April dates, or May 10, commemorating Davis' capture.[25]
Historians have pointed out that the holiday's official recognition by states often coincided with the height ofJim Crow racism around the United States.[5][6] In some places, the holiday attracted revived interest as a reaction to the earlycivil rights movement in the 1950s.[7]
In their book,The Genesis of the Memorial Day Holiday in America, Bellware and Gardiner assert that the nationalMemorial Day holiday is a direct offshoot of the observance begun by the Ladies Memorial Association of Columbus, Georgia in 1866. In a few places, most notablyColumbus, Mississippi[26] and Macon, Georgia,[27] both Confederate and Union graves were decorated during the first observance. The day was even referred to as Memorial Day byThe Baltimore Sun on May 8, 1866, after the ladies organization that started it. The name Confederate Memorial Day was not used until the Northern observance was initiated in 1868.[28]
While initially cool to the idea of a Northern version of the holiday, GeneralJohn A. Logan was eventually won over. His General Order No. 11, issued May 5, 1868, commanded the posts ofGrand Army of the Republic to strew flowers on the graves of Union soldiers. The Grand Army of the Republic eventually adopted the name Memorial Day at their nationalencampment in 1882.[29]
Many theories have been offered as to how Logan became aware of the former Confederate tradition he imitated in 1868. In her autobiography, his wifeMary Logan claims she told him about it after a trip to Virginia in the spring of that year.[30] His secretary and his adjutant also claim they told him about it. John Murray ofWaterloo, New York, claims it was he who inspired Logan in 1868. Bellware and Gardiner, however, offer proof that Logan was aware of the Southern tributes long before any of them had a chance to mention it to him.[31] In a speech to veterans inSalem, Illinois, on July 4, 1866, Logan referred to the various dates of observance adopted in the South for the practice saying "…traitors in the South have their gatherings day after day, to strew garlands of flowers upon the graves of Rebel soldiers..."[3]
Confederate Memorial Day is astatutory holiday inAlabama on the fourth Monday in April, inMississippi on the final Monday in April, and inSouth Carolina on May 10.[32][33][34][35][14] In all of these states, state offices are closed on this day (in Texas a so-called "skeleton crew" is required however staff are later compensated for their work on the holiday.[36]
InGeorgia, the fourth Monday in April was formerly celebrated as Confederate Memorial Day, but beginning in 2016, in response to theCharleston church shooting, the names of Confederate Memorial Day andRobert E. Lee's Birthday were struck from the state calendar and the statutory holidays were designated simply as "state holidays".[37]Florida also continues to officially designate Confederate Memorial Day on the fourth Monday in April, although state offices remain open.[38]
North Carolina also designates the holiday on May 10, although state offices remain open and localities may choose whether to observe it.[39][40]
In Texas, state offices remain open on this day but employees may have an optional, paid day off with state offices working a skeleton crew.[48]
In 1931, theTexas Legislature made Robert E. Lee's birthday (January 19) a state holiday.[49]
In 1973, the Texas House had massive turnover, with 71 incoming freshman and 8 new Black representatives, which was the most in the House since theReconstruction era. One of the new Black legislators,Senfronia Thompson, filed a bill to make January 15 a state holiday for Martin Luther King Jr., as an "honorary" state holiday that would not have any state offices or banks close in observance. The bill did not get a vote,[50] but they did make other changes to the state holidays: the Texas Legislature removed Jefferson Davis's and Robert E. Lee's birthdays as state holidays, and replaced them with Confederate Heroes Day, to be celebrated on January 19.[51]
In 1987,Martin Luther King Jr. Day was added as a federal holiday for the third Monday in January, and in that year the Texas Legislature made it an optional state holiday, and in 1991 they made MLK Day an official state holiday. In some years (1987, 1998, 2004, 2009, 2015, 2026) MLK Jr. Day and Confederate Heroes Day fall on the same day.[46]
Texas state Representatives and Senators have tried to amend or abolish Confederate Heroes Day from the state calendar:
2015: State RepresentativeDonna Howard filed a bill to rename the holiday Civil War Remembrance Day; it did not get out of the committee for a vote[52]
2019: State RepresentativeJarvis Johnson filed a bill to end the state holiday. It did not get out of committee.[53]
2021: State Representatives Jarvis Johnson andShawn Thierry filed bills to abolish the holiday, and state SenatorNathan M. Johnson filed a bill to replace the holiday with one in June celebrating suffrage for all Americans; these did not get out of committee.[53][52]
2023: State Representative Jarvis Johnson again filed a bill to remove the holiday and state Senator Nathan Johnson sponsored legislation in the Senate; they did not get out of committee.[53]
The holiday has been condemned by theSouthern Poverty Law Center as part of a campaign of "racial terror" on the part ofwhite supremacists, "an organized propaganda campaign, created to instill fear and ensure the ongoing oppression of formerly enslaved people".[4] Critics often cite the fact that the Confederacy was formed for the purpose of protecting slavery.[54] Some commemorations have been met with groups of protesters.[55]
Various proposals have been made in the legislatures of the states still recognizing it to remove it from the list of state holidays or commemorations, or to replace it withJuneteenth.[56][54]
