“On Memorial Day there are always celebrations of some sort in nearly every town in Delaware,” the Delaware Coast News editorialized on May 26, 1928. “Lewes will hold a Boy Scout Demonstration in the morning and a Trap Shooting Contest in the afternoon while at Rehoboth a parade, athletic carnival and base ball game will occupy the afternoon.”
After the Civil War, the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.), an organization of veterans of the Union army was founded for “preserving and strengthening those kind of fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers, sailors, and marines who united to suppress the late rebellion.”
According to General John Logan, Commander of the G.A.R., “We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance,” and he designated May 30, 1868, “for the purpose of strewing flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion.”
The next year, Wilmington held a “Decoration Day” ceremony that featured speeches, bands and a massive parade that included a large number veterans who had served during the Civil War. The procession ended in the city’s cemeteries, where flowers were placed on the graves of Union soldiers who died during the Civil War.
Decoration Day became known as Memorial Day, and the annual commemoration quickly spread to towns across Delaware.
In the ensuing years, however, many of the surviving Civil War veterans passed away, and it was left to others to decorate the graves of their fallen comrades. In the process, some of the solemnity of the original holiday was lost.
In 1894, the Wilmington Daily Gazette and State Journal observed that in Lewes, “Decoration Day was in a measure observed. Some of the stores were closed and the public schools were closed in the afternoon. Some bunting was displayed and the post office closed part of the day. The graves of the deceased soldiers in the cemeteries were decorated with small flags.”
At the beginning of the 20th century, Decoration Day in Lewes continued to be a low-keyed affair, with the Wilmington Every Evening reporting in 1906, “Decoration Day was generally observed here [Lewes] by the closing of stores, banks and offices. Crowds wended their way to the cemeteries in town from early morning until evening and decoration of graves was profuse and very tasteful.”
By this time, the holiday honored the veterans of all wars, and in Lewes their graves were decorated in cemeteries throughout the town. The Wilmington Every Evening listed each cemetery in Lewes, the names of the veterans buried there and the wars in which they served.
According to the newspaper, the older graveyards, including St. Peter’s Episcopal and the Presbyterian cemeteries held graves of those who served during the American Revolution and the War of 1812, as well as the Civil War.
At that time, the Methodist cemetery on Savanah Road and St. George’s African Methodist Episcopal Cemetery on Pilottown Road had the most graves of Civil War veterans.
In Rehoboth, founded after the Civil War, July 4th was considered the opening day of the summer season. As the popularity of the seaside town grew, Memorial Day became the unofficial start of the vacation, and the original meaning of Memorial Day was lost.
The celebration focused on a parade of floats sponsored by local businesses. In 1928, the award for the best decorated float went to Raymond Wilson, whose store carried heating and plumbing supplies, and the Delaware Coast News reported, the “float equipped with bath room fixtures was very attractive.”
Principal sources
Delaware Coast News, May 26, 1928. June 2, 1928.
Daily Gazette and State Journal, June 6, 1894.
Every Evening, May 31, 1906.
Sussex Journal, May 22, 1909.
The National Memorial Day: A record of the Ceremonies, Washington City: Headquarters Grand Army of the Republic, 1870, pp. 7, 97-100.
