Act of kindness and the power of a poem helped create Memorial Day

by Cory Unrein

​     In 1866, four women in Columbus, Mississippi, visited their local cemetery to decorate the graves of Confederate and Union soldiers who had been killed at the battle of Shiloh.
     Their act of kindness was detailed in newspaper articles throughout the north and south, and inspired Francis Miles Finch, a northern judge and academic, to pen “The Blue and The Gray”. The poem, published in 1867, became widely popular across the fractured nation, as it honored the common loss of both sides.
     The kind acts of those four women and Finch’s poem created a groundswell of support across the country for an official holiday to remember the nation’s war dead. Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, was adopted in 1868 to honor those who were killed in service of their country.  The holiday became a federal holiday in 1971, and with the three day weekend the holiday morphed into the unofficial kickoff of summer.
     While a three-day weekend, pool openings, and the arrival of summer is certainly worth celebrating, please take a moment this weekend to remember those whose sacrifices ensured you could enjoy these moments with your loved ones.
 
The Blue And The Gray
Francis Miles Finch (1827-1907)

By the flow of the inland river,
    Whence the fleets of iron have fled,
Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,
    Asleep are the ranks of the dead:
        Under the sod and the dew,
            Waiting the judgment-day;
        Under the one, the Blue,
            Under the other, the Gray
​
These in the robings of glory,
    Those in the gloom of defeat,
All with the battle-blood gory,
    In the dusk of eternity meet:
        Under the sod and the dew,
            Waiting the judgement-day
        Under the laurel, the Blue,
            Under the willow, the Gray.
 
From the silence of sorrowful hours
    The desolate mourners go,
Lovingly laden with flowers
    Alike for the friend and the foe;
        Under the sod and the dew,
            Waiting the judgement-day;
        Under the roses, the Blue,
            Under the lilies, the Gray.
 
So with an equal splendor,
    The morning sun-rays fall,
With a touch impartially tender,
    On the blossoms blooming for all:
        Under the sod and the dew,
            Waiting the judgment-day;
        Broidered with gold, the Blue,
            Mellowed with gold, the Gray.
 
So, when the summer calleth,
    On forest and field of grain,
With an equal murmur falleth
    The cooling drip of the rain:
        Under the sod and the dew,
            Waiting the judgment -day,
        Wet with the rain, the Blue
            Wet with the rain, the Gray.
 
Sadly, but not with upbraiding,
    The generous deed was done,
In the storm of the years that are fading
    No braver battle was won:
        Under the sod and the dew,
            Waiting the judgment-day;
        Under the blossoms, the Blue,
            Under the garlands, the Gray
 
No more shall the war cry sever,
    Or the winding rivers be red;
They banish our anger forever
    When they laurel the graves of our dead!
        Under the sod and the dew,
            Waiting the judgment-day,
        Love and tears for the Blue,
            Tears and love for the Gray.