The American Civil War
In 1861, South Carolina voted to secede from the Union of the United States, with several Southern states including Georgia following suit, forming the rebel Confederacy. When rebel forces fired upon the federally held Fort Sumter in March 1861, the U.S. Civil War officially began.
The war broke out of long and growing tensions between Northern and Southern states, many of which revolved around the enslavement of African Americans. For example, the U.S.'s expansion westward opened up questions of whether slavery should be legal or illegal in new states and territories. Debates over the legality of slavery in the nation drew ire from Southern politicians, who felt the states' rights to govern themselves, as well as the agriculture-based and slave-dependent economy of the South, to be threatened. The 1860 election of anti-slavery President Abraham Lincoln served as the breaking point.
It was not a clean break, however. Several "border states" like Maryland or Kentucky remained part of the Union, but citizens remained sympathetic to and even fought for the Confederacy. Non-slaveholding Confederate soldiers fought in the name of their states rather than for the cause of maintaining slavery.
While the Confederacy won several important early battles, the Union ultimately overcame their forces with devastating effects. Atlanta was captured, ransacked, and burned by Union General Sherman's forces in September 1864, followed closely by the capture of Savannah, GA. In April 1865, Confederate forces surrendered to the union at Appomattox Court House, ending the war.
WATCH: A news report of a Confederate Memorial Day celebration in South Carolina, including some reenactors.
Maryland Sons of Confederate Veterans Color Guard on Confederate Memorial Day
Aftermath and Memorial
Southern land and pride were both left deeply wounded by the loss of the Civil War. In 1867, Congress voted to militarily occupy the South in order to advance the rights and legal equality of newly-freed slaves. While progressive policies were passed, many white Southerners felt oppressed by the measures, leading to the foundation of the first Ku Klux Klan and reactionary Jim Crow laws.
Meanwhile, memorial organizations founded by Southern white women sprung up across the South, in an effort to honor and grieve those who'd fallen fighting for their state.
From these memorial groups sprung the celebration of Confederate Memorial Day. As early as 1866, memorial organizations founded and expanded graveyards, built memorial statues, decorated tombstones, and founded care groups for widows and mothers of fallen soldiers. These practices turned swiftly into parades, military exercises, and celebrations of Southern spirit and pride.
Confederate Memorial Day continues to be celebrated in several Southern States. Georgia officially removed the title Confederate Memorial Day from the list of official holidays in 2016, but retained a "State Holiday" on the date.