On May 30, 1868, the United States celebrated the first Memorial Day, although it was called “Decoration Day” back then. While we’ve lost the exact origin of the holiday, it seems to come from one or more smaller, local celebrations across the country. However, they all seem to have their roots in the Civil War.

The Civil War was unique in American history in that all of the casualties on both sides were Americans. And, with 600,000 casualties over the course of the war, there was a lot of mourning in the years after the war ended. Across the nation, soldiers’ graves were decorated by bereaved families and friends.

These private ceremonies of mourning soon morphed into larger, community ceremonies. Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, had a ceremony decorating the graves of soldiers on July 4th, 1864, and it claims that it is the creator Memorial Day. An African American community observance of a day for remembering fallen soldiers took place on May 1st, 1865, in Charleston, SC. Some have claimed that was the origin of Memorial Day. Still, others claim that the holiday should be traced to April 25, 1866, when the ladies of Columbus, MS, laid flowers on the graves of all soldiers, Union and Confederate alike. However, in 1966, President Lyndon Johnson had Waterloo, New York, declared the birthplace of Memorial Day because of its May 5, 1866 holiday honoring fallen soldiers in which all the businesses closed and soldiers’ graves were decorated.

On May 5, 1868, John A. Logan, the head of the Grand Army of the Republic Civil War veterans’ organization, declared that May 30 would be celebrated as Decoration Day. And why that day in particular? Because it wasn’t the anniversary of any battle. Logan wanted to emphasize peace, not strife.