O Say Can You See?

You asked, we answered: Why do we celebrate Memorial Day?

We know you're curious. A Civil War military history researcher explains where Memorial Day celebrations came from.

Decoration Day postcard depicting a woman in mourning clothes at the grave of a Civil War soldier, 1908. Warshaw Collection of Business Americana - Civil War, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

In the midst of the nation's observation of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, battle anniversaries and encampments of Union and Confederate reenactors are reminders of the Civil War's long legs in American society. One of the lesser-known legacies of the Civil War, however, is Memorial Day.

The holiday has its roots in local commemorations of the fallen soldiers of that war, many of which involved laying flowers on graves and paying tribute to the fighting men who gave the last full measure for their cause. The first Memorial Day observances were notable for having been organized by those Americans who were unable to fully participate in the conflict that defined their era: women and African Americans.

 

Photograph (cabinet print) of Town Hall, Bolton, Decoration Day, 1886, showing elaborate decorations, including framed pictures of uniformed soldiers, flags, flowers, etc.

One of the most important antecedents of the modern Memorial Day was a Decoration Day organized by freedman's relief organizations and formerly enslaved people in Charleston, South Carolina, on May 1, 1865. One of a series of celebrations in the destroyed city to mark the end of the war, this event was orchestrated by the African American citizens of Charleston to mark and decorate the graves of the 257 Union prisoners who died at the Charleston Race Course, which had been converted to a Confederate prison. Thousands of freedmen, including almost 3,000 black schoolchildren, gathered to decorate the graves with flowers and beautify the graveyard, building an enclosure and an arch labeled, "Martyrs of the Race Course" in what is now Hampton Park. Scholar David Blight has christened this event the first Memorial Day: "What you have there is black Americans recently freed from slavery announcing to the world with their flowers, their feet, and their songs what the War had been about. What they basically were creating was the Independence Day of a Second American Revolution," he said in a recent speech.

Meanwhile, women in both northern and southern states had contributed to the war effort by managing farms and businesses, producing necessary war supplies, joining voluntary associations like the United States Christian Commission and the Women's Relief Society, and maintaining family life on the home front. Popular conceptions of femininity in American life held that women should perform the emotional work of grieving and mourning deceased family members. With thousands of fathers, brothers, and sons dying in combat every month, women adapted their responsibilities to this grim new culture of death. Americans were embracing the Victorian rural cemetery ideal, in which families would visit their deceased loved ones in tree-shaded parks to emphasize perpetual remembrance and rest.

 

Program for Soldiers' Memorial Day, Oxford, Massachusetts, Saturday May 29, 1880. Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Civil War series, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. This program instructs: "Those contributing Flowers will please hand them in on Friday afternoon preceding, or at an early hour Saturday morning."

During the Civil War, some women began decorating soldiers' graves with flowers, a custom which may have been borrowed from German Catholic observances on All Saints' Day. Dozens of cities in both northern and southern states claim to have been the birthplace of the Decoration Day tradition, but it had become an annual spring tradition in many cities by the end of the war. Whereas the United States government established National Cemeteries and funded projects to identify and reinter Union casualties after the war, in the former Confederacy, ladies' memorial associations took up the task of marking and maintaining graves in the absence of a sympathetic government.

 

Grand Army of the Republic ribbon commemorating Memorial Day observances in Washington, D.C., 1894. Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Warshaw Collection, AC0060-0001294.

The Columbus Ladies' Memorial Association, which maintained a Confederate graveyard in the eponymous Georgia city, first called upon Southern women to observe Memorial Day in an open letter published in March 1866. Though the date and local traditions varied by town, within several years communities across the country were remembering veterans of the war with speeches, exercises, and parades which usually culminated with women decorating graves in the local cemetery.

In the post-war Reconstruction era, women were often credited with preserving the solemn and conciliatory nature of the festivities.

"It is the more impressive when the day is not observed by any noisy demonstration or pompous ceremonies, such as men are wont to use in making known their respect for the heroic dead, but when woman's warm heart impels the observance, and the tribute paid to departed valor is only the placing of Spring’s brightest flowers upon the graves in which the soldiers' bones repose," wrote the Richmond Dispatch in a Memorial Day editorial published in 1870.

 

Divided-back picture postcard, showing an American flag with a wreath of roses around it and the words, "Honor the brave 1861-1865." Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Civil War series, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

On May 5, 1868, the Grand Army of the Republic called for a regular national Memorial Day celebration. Major General John A. Logan wrote for the veteran's organization that, "we should guard their graves with sacred vigilance... Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic."

As the more rancorous memories of the conflict faded, Southerners and Northerners began to celebrate Memorial Day together, although it did not become a federal holiday until 1971. Many Americans still visit family gravesites with flowers on the last weekend in May, although for many the holiday has come to mean the beginning of summer, cookouts, and a day to spend relaxing with loved ones.

 

"Memorial Day Group 1938 / James E. Walker Post No. 26 / of the American Legion, Wash. D.C." is written on the bottom of this photograph. Scurlock Studio Records, ca. 1905-1994, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Ryan Lintelman is the Project Assistant for Civil War 150 initiatives at the National Museum of American History.

Part III: On the set of "Rebel," the story of a woman who fought in the Civil War

When filmmaker María Agui Carter first came across the 1876 memoir of a Latina woman who fought in the Civil War, she recognized "a voice that sounded so modern" and was compelled to make a film about this maverick. We asked Agui Carter a few questions about her film and the woman "who made no apologies about breaking every gender, social, and ethnic boundary," which you can catch on PBS on Friday, May 24, 2013. Part I and Part II of this post provide some background on Loreta Janeta Velazquez.

 

Filming a battle charge in Massachusetts. Photo by Max Prum.

How did you go about getting the costumes, settings, language, and other details right?
First I relied on the work of many illustrious scholars in literary criticism, in history, in women's studies. I not only read widely, but I had conversations about this story and the history and context surrounding it for years with my advisors and the experts in my film. I was fortunate to receive fellowships from Harvard and then from Tulane to do primary research, to explore in the archives, and to write the script.

To convey the material world, I often used real historical settings—such as museum houses that were already furnished and historically appropriate. I brought in additional period-specific props that my actors could handle without moving one-of-a-kind museum pieces. I also used a lot of historical consultants who specialized in the hairstyles of the day, the clothing of the day, but I was less interested in material history perfection than in conveying the spirit of the times for laypeople.

 

Ulla Aricayos on make-up checks "last looks" for the 19th century street scenes in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Photo by María Agui Carter.

The film is mostly carried in voice-over, so language was very important. For the 19th century Cuban/New Orleans accent Velazquez spoke, I sought out a dialect coach named Richard Dalgren and read what I could find about the sound of New Orleans-area speech patterns according to 19th century class, language use, etc. New Orleans accents don't sound like the rest of the South, and the 19th century New Orleans accent is even harder to pin down. Working class New Orleans accents apparently resembled Brooklyn accents, but Velazquez was not working class.

People sometimes ask me why she doesn't have a Cuban or Latino accent, but having grown up in the U.S. as a child, she would have picked up the dominant language quickly and flawlessly, as it was spoken in her area. Being educated in New Orleans, she would probably have learned French as well as English, so she would have been trilingual.

Finally, in terms of word use, my script uses her direct words when possible, but whether modern or historical, spoken language is very different from written language and that necessitated my having to rewrite her words and create a full script. Nineteenth century memoirs were pretty florid and wordy. When writing voice-over and narration, word choice becomes simpler, more vernacular.

I was also trying to maintain the drama of her story, so I did not represent every single moment of her life from her memoirs, and I collapsed some of the episodes of her life in the film. While I did not change the history, REBEL is really my interpretation of her story, informed by the work of scholars, by the documentation available, and by her own words.

What was challenging about making this documentary? Are there many things we still don't know about Velazquez?

Tracing women's lives, and Latina women's lives, can be a challenge in this period. These are groups that have not always been deemed worthy of documenting or archiving. Women would take on their husband's name and disappear into his story, and Velazquez married multiple times. She was also hiding her identity as a soldier and later as a spy. So she was deliberately covering her tracks.

We have not located an obituary for her. We don't know where she was buried. We don't know who her descendants are, although recently I was contacted by Andrene Messer, a descendant of William Beard, her last husband. They shared newspaper articles about a son she had named Valdemar Beard and I am hoping that once I share this story, and put some of the documents I have gathered about her up on my website, people will be inspired to look for her traces in the public record, perhaps even discover a living descendant.

Why did you feel you were the right person to tell this story?
There have not been enough histories told about the role of Latinos in American history. Because of this, each new film made about Latinos in American history is expected to take on a greater burden to represent our entire past. But one film cannot do that. In addition, because so many of the contemporary stories about Latinos are negative, there is additional pressure to tell positive historical stories about unblemished heroes. But I am interested in telling the complicated, nuanced stories that more closely describe our human condition. If we only tell stories of plaster saints, we have a pantheon of unattainable heroes, of inhuman mythological characters that we can never hope to really emulate.

So the story of this flawed woman whose consciousness grows over time was really appealing to me. I have spent a lifetime telling stories about race, politics, and class and this story called me. It was also a wonderful opportunity for me to collaborate with a long-time producing partner, Calvin Lindsay, Jr., co-producer of this film, with whom I had done another story for PBS years ago, Devil's Music. That was a film about the fear of blackness and sexuality implicit in the censorship of black music and jazz. And those kinds of fears were again operative in the way Velazquez was being attacked, so this was an opportunity for Calvin and myself to continue a political and artistic dialog we had been exploring in other works.

The preview for REBEL can also be viewed here.

Are there other key things you hope people take away from this film?
My film uses the book Velazquez wrote to introduce audiences to the Latin history of New Orleans and the South, and reminds us that there has been a historical and cultural exchange between Cuba, Mexico, and New Orleans that goes back for centuries. Cuba was deeply aligned with the South pre-Civil War through cultural and trade connections. That is particularly interesting today, post-Katrina as thousands of Latinos have poured in and settled in the city to do the challenging work of rebuilding it. Throughout the South, there has been triple digit growth in the Latino populations, and a huge corresponding increase in hate crimes against them. They are seen as outsiders and interlopers, and we know little of the history of Latinos in the South. This film begins to convey some of that history.

There is much more to tell.

María Agui Carter is Writer, Director and Producer of REBEL, which runs 75 minutes. Check local listings for when to view the film.

You asked, we answered: What did soldiers eat during the Revolutionary War?

After answering a question about what may have been in the pockets of Revolutionary War soldiers, another Revolutionary War question came in from a Facebook follower. Our answer by Marko Zlatich, a longtime volunteer in the museum's Division of Armed Forces History.

Barrel-shaped water canteens were uncommon. Their size and awkward shape made them impractical for most soldiers. It is likely that such a canteen would have been owned by a militia man who was called up and merely took what was available to him.

 

Even before a food supply system was organized, on June 10, 1775, the Massachusetts Provincial Council set the daily allowance or ration for its troops in Boston as:

1. One pound of bread
2. Half a pound of beef and half a pound of pork; and if pork cannot be had, one pound and a quarter of beef; and one day in seven they shall have one pound and one quarter of salt fish, instead of one day's allowance of meat
3. One pint of milk, or if milk cannot be had, one gill [half a cup] of rice
4. One quart of good spruce or malt beer
5. One gill of peas or beans, or other sauce equivalent
6. Six ounces of good butter per week
7. One pound of good common soap for six men per week
8. Half a pint of vinegar per week per man, if it can be had.

George Washington's well-appointed personal camp chest, or "mess kit," enabled him to dine in a manner reflecting his position as commander of the Continental Army.

According to The Private Soldier Under Washington, by Charles Knowles Bolton (New York, Scribner's, 1902): "Substantially the same ration was approved by Congress November 4, 1775, but with 'or cider' after the word 'beer.'"

In time, the ration changed due to problems with transporting the rations to the soldiers. For example, in spring of 1778, at Valley Forge, General Washington ordered that the 12,000 men encamped there, each was to receive daily: 1-1/2 pounds of flour or bread, 1 pound of beef or fish, 3/4 pound of pork, and 1 gill of whiskey or spirit; or 1-1/2 pounds of flour, 1/2 pound or pork or bacon, 1/2 pint of peas or beans, and 1 gill of whiskey or spirits, as or when they were available.

When in camp, the soldiers were housed in tents, except those in cold areas during winter; however, the basic plan was for six soldiers to share either a tent or a "hut" and, as at sea, the six created a "mess" or an eating unit which received the rations fit or available for six men and then cooked the food themselves.

Where soldiers had families on campaign with them, those women who were considered as companions for the men were also included in the rations and usually they served as cooks for their mess. A Commissary General of Purchases was appointed by the Continental Congress to arrange for the purchase of rations and their transport.

Do you have a question about American history you’d like answered? Ask us on Facebook or Twitter and we'll do our best to answer.

Journeying west: Distinctive firearms travel to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West

We recently loaned 64 objects from our National Firearms Collection to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, a Smithsonian Affiliate in Cody, Wyoming, for a display. Researcher Ashley Lynn Hlebinsky shares two highlights of the display.

 

Photo courtesy of Buffalo Bill Center of the West

This loan is the culmination of the efforts of many individuals from the east and west. Without the vision of Cody Firearms Museum Curator Warren Newman, the dedication of National Museum of American History Associate Curator of firearms David Miller, and the team at Smithsonian Affiliations, this exhibition might not have occurred.

Over the past two years, I have worked as the liaison between the two organizations, selecting firearms, writing text panels and labels, and aiding Newman with the design of the overall exhibition. Among these artifacts are numerous patent models documenting innovations in the field, international imagination, and historic distinction.

 

Presentation Jezail for Thomas Jefferson by the Bey of Tunis

Included in this exhibition is a seven-foot-long gold Miquelet lock musket. A Miquelet lock refers to a specific flintlock system found often in Spain, Portugal and North Africa. This musket was one of two given to President Thomas Jefferson in 1805 by the Bey of Tunis after the Tripolitan Wars. The gift influenced the inclusion of the lyrics "to the shores of Tripoli" in the Marine's Hymn.

 

Russian Jaeger Flintlock Rifle made by Permjakov for Catherine the Great of Russia

Another selected firearm is an embellished Jaeger rifle that belonged to empress Catherine the Great of Russia (1729–1796). A velvet cheek piece added to this firearm ensured her comfort while shooting. Additionally, a gold inlaid image of Catherine herself is on the barrel near the breech.

Another view of Catherine the Great's rifle

This loan is an exciting opportunity to share the museum's diverse and historically rich firearms collection with a new audience in the West. It joins the Smithsonian Institution and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West together in an exhibition opening on May 4, 2013 titled Journeying West: Distinctive Firearms from the Smithsonian Institution.

Photo courtesy of Buffalo Bill Center of the West

Ashley Lynn Hlebinsky has been working as a firearms researcher and assistant between the National Museum of American History and the Cody Firearms Museum for the past few years. She is also completing her Masters Degree in American History and Museum Studies at the University of Delaware this May 2013.

Police in history and Hollywood

Two curators share interesting law enforcement-related artifacts in their collections, inspired by National Police Week.

Curator Eric Jentsch: Hollywood's version of police work

Police badge from "Barney Miller" television show

"Barney Miller," portrayed by actor Hal Linden (born in 1931,) was Captain of New York City's fictional 12th Precinct Detective's Office. There, Miller sensitively oversaw a diverse squad of wacky officers and their daily interactions with eccentric criminals and endless paperwork. The comedy was broadcast on ABC from 1975-1982.

 

Sgt. Pepper's badge from "Police Woman"

Angie Dickinson (born in 1931) portrayed LAPD undercover officer Sgt. "Pepper" Anderson on the NBC drama Police Woman (1974-1978.) A spin-off from the television series Police Story (1973-1978,) the show was one of the first and most successful police dramas to feature a female protagonist.

 

Badge from "Live Free or Die Hard"

Beginning with the 1988 film Die Hard, and through the course of four sequels, New York Police Department (NYPD) officer John McClane has relied on humor and wits to combat such bad guys as terrorists, mercenaries, and thieves. The role took Bruce Willis (born in 1955), from television comedy (ABC's Moonlighting, 1985-1989) to film, where the unlikely action hero became a box-office megastar. This badge comes from the fourth film in the series, 2007's Live Free or Die Hard.

 

Curator Tim Winkle: Real law enforcement

 

Prohibition agent's badge from the 1920s

Prohibition agents raid a lunch room on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., in 1923

Formed in 1920 by the Volstead Act to enforce the 18th Amendment, the Prohibition Bureau was originally organized as a unit within the Treasury Department's Bureau of Internal Revenue (later the Internal Revenue Service). It was tasked with enforcing the prohibition on the manufacture, transportation and sale (but not consumption) of "intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes." The exploits of well-known Prohibition Agents like Eliot Ness and his "Untouchables" in Chicago, Illinois, and the New York duo of "Izzy" Einstein and Moe Smith made newspaper headlines, but most "prohi" agents faced a daunting challenge from the start.

Elevated to a bureau within the Treasury in 1927 and put under the Justice Department in 1930, it returned to the Internal Revenue after Prohibition was repealed in 1933. In time, this service would form the basis of today's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

 

Irene Gardner's Sergeant Badge c. 1965

Irene Gardner in her badge and uniform c. 1950

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) was an early proponent of women in law enforcement, appointing both the nation's first full-time salaried female police officer (Alice Stebbins Wells, 1910) and the first female detective (Isabella Goodwin, 1912). Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Irene C. Gardner (nee Leveille) joined the growing ranks of policewomen in the LAPD in 1944, and was promoted to Sergeant in 1965. She served in the LAPD for over 30 years with distinction, working primarily with juvenile offenders and developing programs to help keep kids away from crime.

Irene was a good shot as well—in 1961, she won the award for highest pistol score among policewomen at the Los Angeles Police Revolver and Athletic Club.

 

Booklet of by-laws for the Tremont HTDA. The first proviso hints at an alternative agenda—members could only be "one hundred percent AMERICAN WHITE MALE" 

Badge for the Tremont Horse Thief Detective Association

This badge belonged to a member of the Tremont Horse Thief Detective Association, one of many such local law enforcement organizations established in the 1920s in Indiana. Beginning in the 1840s and unique to Indiana, the state granted police powers to citizens' groups who organized chapters of the Horse Thief Detective Association (HTDA) in their communities for the purpose of protecting property, horses in particular. With the advent of the automobile, membership was on the decline and the HTDA seemed increasingly obsolete.

In the 1920s, however, membership rebounded and new chapters were regularly founded, sometimes as many as four or five in a single county. Behind this resurgence was another organization—the Ku Klux Klan. Re-established in 1915, the Klan claimed over four million members nationwide by the mid-1920s, and it extended throughout the country, including mid-western states like Indiana. Klansmen usurped the state's idiosyncratic Horse Thief Detective Association as a means of legally providing police powers and government sanction to what would otherwise be gangs of armed vigilantes.

Eric W. Jentsch is the Deputy Chair for the Division of Culture and the Arts at the National Museum of American History. Tim Winkle is an associate curator with the Division of Home and Community Life.