2024 Confederate Memorial Day Service In Columbia, South Carolina

Confederate Memorial Day is an official State holiday in South Carolina honored on May 10th, the anniversary of the death of Confederate Lieutenant General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson on the same day in 1863.

The holiday honors the memories of 26,670 South Carolinians who served in defense of Southern independence during the War Between the States (American Civil War) between 1861-1865. The graves of these men are honored with flags and wreaths, or cleaned annually by Confederate descendants.

On Saturday, May 4th, your favorite blogger traveled south down Highway 321 to attend the 2024 Confederate Memorial Day service at historic Elmwood Cemetery in downtown Columbia, South Carolina.

The event held annually by the South Carolina Division Sons of Confederate Veterans (SC SCV), the South Carolina Division United Daughters of the Confederacy (SC UDC), the Military Order of the Stars & Bars (MOSB), and the Children of the Confederacy, takes place on the first Saturday of May and usually draws between 300 to 600 attendees -- all of them proud descendants of Confederate veterans.

This year threatening thunderstorms kept many away, although there was still a fairly decent turnout to honor the memories of the hundreds of Confederate soldiers and veterans buried at Elmwood Cemetery, and the thousands more all across the State of South Carolina.

I passed through several heavy patches of rain between Chester County and Columbia before arriving to find that the rain had yet to start and the blessedly overcast sky kept the temperatures about 70F and the sun from blistering everyone this year.

The following are the photos I took of the event for y'all to enjoy.

Members of the 16th South Carolina Color Guard posting the colors.

The new Guardians being honored with their pins and certificates.
Guardians are members of the SCV who take the time to care for
multiple Confederate graves yearly.
I'm also an official Guardian, a duty that I take seriously.

The laying of the wreath at the grave of the Unknown Confederate
Soldier.

Retiring of the colors.

The Confederate Memorial Day ceremony at Elmwood Cemetery is one of the largest gatherings of Confederate descendants annually in South Carolina with similar events in Charleston in the Lowcountry and Greenville in the Upstate. Another hundred smaller services are usually held locally across the State throughout the first two weeks of May before the larger U.S. Memorial Day services and celebrations begin near the end of the month leading us into summer.

I was thankful to be able to attend this year's event (last year unforseen events kept me from attending at the last minute) and to capture these moments for y'all to enjoy.