Memorial Day born out of Civil War

Thank you for your spot-on Musings (June 7 Weekly News) in regard to Memorial Day, especially the service at Pleasant Ridge Cemetery on May 29. As always, it was a moving service, conducted quite ably by Rev. Don Robinson.

As I listened to and observed the folding of the flag protocol and recounting of the military conflicts that our flag has symbolized, whether noble or otherwise, I, too, was struck by the omission of the Civil War. This was no careless omission.

The Civil War was the most pivotal point in the history of the United States. It was Jan, 6, 2021 on steroids. It was the point at which we resolved whether we would remain a slave-holding nation, again asserting that we stood for the idea that all men were created equal as set forth in the Declaration Independence.

I pondered, as I stood there, what the flag would look like if the Confederacy had prevailed in that conflict. Would it be a flag minus four stripes representing the founding colonies who fought to leave the Union? It had 34 stars at the beginning of the Civil War. How many would be represented today? Or would we be honoring the stars and bars of the flag of the Confederacy? Many people fly the Confederate flag and display bumper stickers today. I always wonder if they are advocating a reinstatement of slavery.

As the musings noted, Memorial Day was instituted by Maj. Gen. Joshua Logan in 1868, but remembrances for the war dead began before the war ended, notably in Boalsburg, PA. In Charleston, SC, in May, 1865, a march of Black former slaves led by 3,000 school children holding roses marched, commemorating dead Union soldiers buried at a mass grave nearby. In 1866, women in Columbus, GA, put flowers on graves of both Confederate and Union soldiers. It is written that this gesture of reverence for the losses on both sides of the conflict so moved Gen. Logan that he spurred the effort to make Memorial Day a national holiday.

The U.S. flag is important only as a symbol of the actual sacrifice made by all citizens who have taken time out of their lives to serve the nation, and most importantly, those who have paid with their lives.

Rick Shorten lives on Pleasant Ridge and served in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War era.