How Beaufort Honored Memorial Day Through the Years

Memorial Day is nearly here! I’m sure many of you are looking forward to the long holiday weekend that kicks off the summer season. Perhaps you’ll be spending it at a backyard barbecue with family, out on the water with friends, or maybe in a sun lounger at the beach? No matter what you do that day, many of us will also take the time to memorialize our military service members who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

But how did Beaufortonians of years past celebrate the holiday?

The Beaufort District Collection is quite fortunate to have a number of diaries and other primary sources that describe historic Memorial Day celebrations in Beaufort. But to understand the local history of this holiday, we need to go back to the very start of it.

Some of you may be surprised to learn that Memorial Day began as “Decoration Day,” a remembrance of the fallen Union soldiers and sailors of the American Civil War. Waterloo, New York, has been officially credited with starting the holiday in 1866, although many other communities in the US have also laid claim to being the “first” to observe it.

In 1868, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a Union Civil War veterans group, declared its first Decoration Day for May 30th of that year. Decoration Day eventually came to be observed throughout the nation over the next century. In 1967, Decoration Day was officially renamed “Memorial Day” by Congress and was soon after recognized as a national holiday (with the accompanying three-day weekend).

So, because Memorial Day began as a commemoration for Union troops who died in the Civil War, it makes sense that the holiday was first celebrated by Union veterans in Beaufort.

W. J. Thomas, Jr.’s comments on the tradition of Memorial Day in Beaufort best describe the history and purpose of the holiday locally. In the Beaufort Gazette of June 13, 1929, Thomas wrote:

“Ancestral differences were tossed aside with mutual relief and patriotism, and the local white Republicans led the way as all together they arbitrated and decided to celebrate a modified Memorial Day, not for the victory of the North over the South but in remembrance of the reunion of the sister states and the restoration of national harmony.”

Decoration Day, and Memorial Day as it would eventually come to be known, was very important to the Black Union veterans of Beaufort in particular. Beaufort County had a high proportion of Black Union veterans. Many Black men, including formerly enslaved people from the area, joined the Union Army's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd South Carolina Volunteer Regiments (AKA 33rd, 34th, and 104th USCT) and the Federal Navy during the War. Some local Black women, like Susie King Taylor, served the Union forces in their own capacity as nurses, cooks, and laundresses.

After the War, Black veterans and their families would often travel from neighboring areas to join Beaufort’s Decoration Day celebrations, which included speeches, music, parades, and pageantry along with remembrance ceremonies at the Beaufort National Cemetery. Local white families would also attend these celebrations.

Here's what Mrs. Ellen Crofut, a white woman and wife of a local businessman, wrote in her diary about Decoration Day in 1890:

“About four o’clock, we all went out to the cemetery in our carriage. ... We arrived a little before the procession. First came officers from the Baltimore, Kearsarge, Dolphin, and Galena; then marines and sailors; lastly, the colored soldiers and G.A.R. It was a very pretty sight when they all marched in and took their places. Mr. Brayton [a local politician] spoke one hour.”

Frederick Holmes Christensen, another local businessman, made note of his celebration of the holiday in this diary entry from May 30th, 1943:

“Decoration day will be celebrated this year tomorrow the 31st. Never the less

Helen, Frederik, and I went over to the church yard with flowers today and decorated Father and Mother's lots. In the afternoon, I went to the wharf and witnessed the colored exercises for those lost at sea.”

Lucille Hasell Culp photograph of the Robert Smalls High band in the 1957 Decoration Day parade.

In 1957, local photographer Lucille Hasell Culp photographed the Robert Smalls High School band and its brass section marching in the Decoration Day parade held on May 30th in Downtown Beaufort. Beaufort continues this tradition of honoring the sacrifice of our military with a parade Downtown and a ceremony at the National Cemetery. Beaufort-area schools continue to participate in Memorial Day parades into the present day, too!

Memorial Day, known originally as Decoration Day to commemorate the sacrifice of Union troops during the Civil War only, has since broadened into a commemoration of the sacrifice of all American soldiers and sailors who died in service to their country during wartime and as a result of military actions. In the present, Memorial Day serves as a day of both celebration and deep reflection.

No matter how you choose to spend it this year, we hope you enjoy the holiday!

This post is based on a BDC Connections blog post originally written by Grace Cordial.