On May 1, 1865, black residents of Charleston, South Carolina, held a memorial to remember Union prisoners of war who had died at a prison camp there. That memorial was spread across the country by the newspapers, who called it "Decoration Day".
In the southern states "Confederate Memorial Day" began as a remembrance of Confederate war dead, in 1866. Most places chose April 26 as the day for the holiday, as it marked the day CS General Johnston surrendered to US General Sherman. Other areas chose to recognize various other auspicious dates, such as the death of CS General Jackson. Many of the southern states continue to recognize the day as a day to remember those who died for the South's cause, during the Civil War.
Then in 1868, a decree was issued, by the veterans' organization for Union Civil War veterans, The Grand Army of The Republic, for the holiday to be recognized nationally and annually. They copied much of their ceremonies from that of the southern states, and chose May 30 as the date for the holiday, mostly because no major battle had occurred on that date, and as flowers were readily available by then. Over the next few years it spread and by 1890 was recognized as an official state holiday in all of the northern states.
By 1882, Memorial Day was beginning to be used in northern states, instead of Decoration Day. However, it did not become common until after WWII. Then in 1967, Federal law officially declared it to known solely as Memorial Day. It was in 1968 that a law was passed to move Memorial Day, and other federal holidays, to only be held on Mondays, so as to allow for a three day weekend. In 1971, the law went into effect and Memorial Day was set to the last Monday of each May. Some feel that the move trivializes the meaning of the holiday.
