Remembering We Were Soldiers and Another America

Memorial Day was first instituted in the aftermath of the Civil War, to appease the suffering caused by the terrible bloodshed of that conflict, in which almost as many men died as in the wars of the 20th century combined. It had become necessary to give a public character to mourning since the survivors could not forget their family members, and the cemeteries, at that time still very much connected with churches, were full of the memory of the war, as were so many other institutions. At that time, it was called Decoration Day.