Memorial Day is an American national holiday used to honor and remember those who lost their lives serving the country in all branches of the military.
Last year for the holiday, The Atlantic magazine took a trip to Columbus, Mississippi, where the day of remembrance began.
A year after the war’s end, in April, 1866, four women of Columbus gathered together to decorate the graves of the Confederate soldiers. They also felt moved to honor the Union soldiers buried there, and to note the grief of their families, by decorating their graves as well. The story of their gesture of humanity and reconciliation is now told and retold in Mississippi as being the occasion of the original Memorial Day.
Read the full story here.
