On this day in history, May 30, 1868, the first Decoration Day —
a precursor to Memorial Day — was celebrated.

Originally known as Decoration Day, from early traditions of
decorating graves with flags, flowers and wreaths, Memorial
Day is a day for remembrance to honor those who have died
in service to our country.

According to PBS,"This was first widely observed on May 30,
1868, to commemorate the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers, by proclamation of Gen. John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the
Republic, an organization of former Union sailors and soldiers," according to PBS.

William Harvey Carney (1840 – 1908)

Recognized for heroically protecting the American flag during
the Civil War, Army Sgt. William Harvey Carney received the
Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military decoration, on
May 23, 1900.

The first Black American service member to earn the award,
Carney was born into slavery in Virginia in 1840. Although a
handful of other Black service members had already received
the medal, Carney’s award celebrated an earlier action. He
was one of many Civil War-era honorees to be granted the
medal decades later.

In the village of Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April 9,
1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered his 28,000 Confederate troops
to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, thus effectively ending the
American Civil War. Forced to abandon the Confederate capital
of Richmond, blocked from joining the surviving Confederate
force in North Carolina, and harassed constantly by Union
cavalry, Lee had no other option.

On December 13, 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army
of Northern Virginia repulsed a series of attacks by General
Ambrose Burnside’s Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg,
Virginia.

On November 19, 1863, at the dedication of a military cemetery
at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during the American Civil War,
President Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most memorable speeches in American history. In fewer than 275 words, Lincoln
brilliantly and movingly reminded a war-weary public why the
Union had to fight, and win, the Civil War.

The Battle of Gettysburg, fought some four months earlier, was
one of the single bloodiest battle of the Civil War. Over the course
of three days, more than 45,000 men were killed, injured, captured
or went missing. The battle also proved to be the turning point of
the war: General Robert E. Lee’s defeat and retreat from Gettysburg marked the last Confederate invasion of Northern territory and the beginning of the Southern army’s ultimate decline.

The original uncropped photo of the speakers stand at Gettysburg.

Abraham Lincoln’s original Gettysburg Address in an Illinois museum.