South Carolina Observes Two Memorial Days In May For American War Dead -- Lest We Forget

The guns have fallen silent, and may they always remain so.

During the month of May here in South Carolina, we observe two Memorial Days: Confederate Memorial Day (May 10th) a State holiday; and U.S. Memorial Day (May 29th) a Federal holiday observed on the last Monday of the month each year -- both to honor the men and boys who served in the War Between The States (American Civil War) 1861-1865.*

South Carolina sent tens of thousands of her sons, brothers, and husbands to fight in the War Between The States. About 60,000 men and boys of all social, racial and religious backgrounds fought with the Southern Confederacy to defend the newly independent State and their homes and families from unconstitutional invasion by federal forces. Another 5,400 African-American men fought with the Union forces among the ranks of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) to defend their new individual freedom and to preserve that same freedom for their own families.

Many of those same soldiers -- Union and Confederate -- never returned home and many of them never received proper burials far from the land of their birth. Some families never learned the ultimate fate of their loved ones.

The exposed skulls and bones of unburied Confederate soldiers near the Orange Plank Road
photographed in April, 1866 -- nearly two years after the Battle of the Wilderness was fought
there on May 5-7, 1864. Approximately 28,700 Americans (Union and Confederate) were
casualties during the battle.
Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Proper memorials to remember them were later built, sometimes decades after the end of the war, because of the high cost of building them in the war-damaged economy. Many others are buried in National and historic cemeteries and local church yards across South Carolina. The Confederate battle flags and United States flags these men fought under fly over these graves every year, placed there by patriotic veterans organizations, descendants of the soldiers, and thoughtful individuals that honor the memory of the dead.

It is to the memory of those sons of South Carolina, no matter their allegiances, who paid the ultimate sacrifice in that long and bloody war that this blog post is dedicated.

 Never Forget!

*Writer's Note: While this blog post explains why South Carolina honors American Civil War dead during the Month of May, US Memorial Day also honors all those in the United States armed forces who died in military service in every major and minor American conflict in this country's nearly 250 year history, especially men from South Carolina -- all of whom this blogger has nothing but the highest respect for their memories and service.