05/24/2026
Memorial Day at the turn of the century, 1899, in Maynard. Please take time to peruse this article recounting the Decoration Day (Memorial Day) observances that spanned 3 days at the end of the 19th century... (you'll have to zoom in and pan around)
The 1941 Chicago Tribune Headline "History May Not Repeat, But It Looks Alike" rings loud in various parts of the article which begins with:
"The close of the War of the Rebellion has bronght us to the last Memorial Diy of this century. Our fathers and grandfathers, looking backward, beheld the sacrifices, suffer-ings, sorrows, glorious deeds and grand victories of the Revolution, and they revered the memory of the men engaged in that war.
Those now living, who have the spirit of patriotism in their souls, stand as it were, with uncovered heads, as the gray haired and tottering remnant of the grand army of veterans of the Rebellion, pass by, to lay floral tributes on the green mounds that mark the resting places of their dead comrades.
Although thousands of monuments mark these places, our country has no actual need of granite shaft, gilded ban-ner, tender ballad or solemu anthem, to keep green and fragrant the deeds of her dead and living heroes, as long as there exists a fragment of a shell, a tattered battle flag, an empty sleeve, an anguished heart, or a veteran soldier, so long will these be suggestive of deadly fever. in Southern swamps, of physical collapse, of prison pens, of long aud exhaustive marches, of tempests, of iron and leaden hail, and the cause that made these things inevitable."
