History of Memorial Day

How Pericles Started an Annual Custom of Memorial Day

His ‘Funeral Oration’ Was The First Recorded Memorial To Unknown Soldiers, Who Had Died In The Service Of Athens

The Herald-Advertiser, November 13, 1938
Submitted by Brenda McClaskey Cook

By R. C. Hall, Ph. D.

Since the World War, the custom of entombing an unknown soldier has grown among the nations of the earth.  The idea back of this, of course, is the desire to honor and show respect to all those soldiers who perished in the line of service and whose bodies were never identified or returned to their friends, relatives, or native land for regular burial.

Persons whose memory does not go back beyond the World War period may easily gain the impression that the custom of honoring the nation’s unknown dead is an outgrowth of that war, at least so far as America is concerned.

But those whose memory stretches back even just a little before that period know better than that. Suppose you have ever attended one of the Decoration Day services under the auspices of one of the posts of the Grand Army of the Republic. In that case, you will doubtless recall a similar ceremony, for those Decoration days meant much the same in the republic’s life during the period between the American Civil war and the World war that Armistice day has meant since that latter great conflict.

Of course, our own experience in the matter consisted in attending the Memorial Day service conducted at Proctorville on the Sunday morning just preceding May 30th and the all-day decoration service conducted at Rome on the latter date. It was customary to decorate graves in Rome cemetery during the forenoon and hold services with patriotic speeches in the nearby church in the afternoon.

The John Bell post of the Grand Army of the Republic had charge of the services and tried to see to it that every soldier’s grave in the cemetery was appropriately adorned with a small American flag and usually a decoration of flowers, ferns, and other plants. Then about 10 a.m., the little band of veterans composing the post would assemblage under the giant trees when then stood just south of the church building.

A Memorable Spectacle

At our earliest recollection, the church was surrounded by these majestic forest specimens. But the group of which we now speak assembled on the edge of the cemetery and almost under the rear window of the church. How well we recall the thrilling sight as we viewed it from our vantage point atop a pew at the old church window.

A long mound-like arrangement of ferns and perhaps other decorative plants, resembling a burial mound, entirely covered with a floral tribute, a row of solemn-faced, most bewhiskered, blue-clad men are repeating a solemn ritual under the leadership of an individual, perhaps a little straighter than the rest, a little more severe in appearance, a little more authoritative in tone, a crowd of equally solemn-faced men, but younger looking, standing reverently in the near background.

Little children playing about among the tombstones but kept at a respectful distance from the little blue-clad group, the hum of low conversation in the church where some, already weary with the morning tramp among the graves, had assembled for a few moments of rest and relaxation before repairing to the shade outside to open lunch baskets for the repast and friendly reunion of the day and in preparation for the speeches to come.

The flags decking the old oil chandeliers within the building, the trees and hitching posts outside, and the great flag held by one of the blue-coated figures in the group about the fern bedecked mound, the sound of the old sheep skin band as the little group concluded its solemn ritual.

What a picture to be impressed upon the mind of a boy – particularly the mind of a boy who at that early age of a few years, had been taught much of the meaning of such words as a soldier, sailor, loyalty, and patriotism. But there was one thing about this ceremony, as we recall witnessing it for the first time. That was the meaning of the fern-covered mound and the ceremony about it.

Puzzled Youngsters

We knew or felt reasonably sure that no one was buried beneath it, that what appeared to be the most impressively decorated graves in the cemetery was no grave. And being unable to hear all the words of the ritual the veterans spoke, we were at a loss to know the meaning of the ceremony.

And being one of those youngsters who his elders frequently informed that he could ask more questions than a Philadelphia lawyer, we proceeded at the first opportunity to inquire into the meaning of the impressive performance.

And we were told that it was a memorial service for the unknown soldiers and sailors who had sacrificed their lives for our great country. We had already learned something about the meaning of the small flags on some graves in the cemetery. And now it was explained that some of the brave soldier boys had never returned home.

Even the bodies of some who had fallen on the battlefield succumbed to disease or wounds or fallen victim to hunger or exposure in prison had never been returned to their home community. Some of those rested in unknown graves in Dixie. Many such graves would go undecorated and perhaps even unmarked throughout the ages. And it was in honor and commemoration of such that the little group of their one-time comrades was decorating the plot just mentioned.

In that group of blue-clad men were some of the leading citizens of Quaker Bottom and neighboring hills. We refer to them as blue-clad because practically every one of them wore a suit or coat of that hue. Although it had been some 40 years since the close of the great conflict they had fought, we strongly suspect that some of those coats had once formed parts of uniforms laid away after Appomattox and brought forth only on special occasions.

If not, they must have been made soon after the war and patterned after the old uniforms for their polished metal buttons, high cut collars, and square cut tails were strongly suggestive of those suites which gave the Federal soldiers their beloved title – the Boys in Blue.

Leading Citizens

Others wore the ordinary business suit of the day, but blue was the prevailing color. As we have said, these men were leading citizens of the community.

There was I. W. Ollum, mayor of Proctorville, and J. A. Bowen, later mayor; J. H. Parker, postmaster of Proctorville, and T. W. Rose, long an RFD carrier from the same office; Hamilton Turley, Paddy Creek farmer, and his brother, Peter Turley, farmer, and both skilled nurserymen and fruit growers; James Defoe, also a skilled nurseryman, and his brother, William Defoe, one of those early gardeners who helped make the Labelle neighborhood an outstanding horticultural community; Edward Munsell, one of the early fruit growers of the hills of Lawrence county; Fulton Tucker, a professional painter; Harrison Wilgus, farmer and fruit grower; David Kitts, farmer, and businessman; and then there were William Brammer, John Warren, Henry Spears, Mr. Hoover, Mr. Robinson, and Mr. Zimmerman, from near Athalia; Gideon Bragg, Henry Neff, Elwood Johnson, William Miller, Mr. Dotson, Israel Cross, and James Corn, most of whom were engaged in agricultural pursuits or related industries.

At that time, these men were hardly past their prime. Although most wore beards, as was the custom for men of that period, and although most were growing gray around the temples, their step was still firm, their heads erect and their eyes sparkling as the martial music recalled the thrilling experiences of years gone by. Now almost everyone in that band of heroes has passed into the Great Beyond, and the task of perpetuating their memory and that of their “unknown “comrades has descended to another generation.

Well, this sounds like a Decoration Day story. But the point we wish to emphasize here is that the idea back of the Unknown Soldier memorial is not new. Its manifestations have differed from time to time but the idea back of them has been practically the same.

Uses of Propaganda

And, of course, this idea has been occasionally utilized for purposes more or less foreign and unrelated to it. It has probably, at too many times, been seized upon for mere propaganda purposes, pure and simple.

Of course, the word propaganda has been rather overworked recently and has been used in such a way as to leave the impression to some people that it is always and wholly bad.  However, a brief session with a reliable dictionary should convince anyone of the contrary. Here is a brief definition of one such: “Propaganda – any methods for the propagation of doctrines, principles, etc., religious or secular.”

And, by the way, the same authority gives the pronunciation of the word according to syllabication as follows: prop-a-gan-da with the accent on the third syllable, i.e., on “gan” and with the first syllable plainly “prop” and not “pro” as radio commentators so frequently pronounce it.

But to return to our main theme. Since, as we have just noted, propaganda may be very fine. On behalf of a very fine cause, it is probably not out of place for an orator to utilize such a situation as a memorial for an unknown soldier or any number of unknown soldiers to arouse or intensify a feeling of patriotism among his listeners.

When such an occasion is used to popularize some selfish cause or private personal interest, the custom becomes distasteful, if not positively disgusting. Anyway, it has been customary for orators on such occasions to address themselves to patriot issues in general rather than to confine themselves simply to words of praise for the unknown soldiers. After all, it would be a little hard to separate the two subjects since the soldier has offered his life for his country.

Custom Goes Back

And as we have suggested, there is nothing ultra-modern about honoring unknown soldiers, so this custom of making patriotic speeches about them is not new. The custom goes away back to ancient times. It would perhaps be impossible to accurately say when and where it originated. And, of course, it has taken various forms at various times.

But we find the idea cropping out from time to time throughout history. Of course, it is impossible to accurately say just when or where the idea originated. However, the first time, perhaps, that a national memorial service, including at least the unknown soldier, was held in ancient Athens during the closing days of the administration of that great statesman, Pericles. We say “administration” for want of a better term.

Pericles was neither emperor nor consul, neither king nor president, but was nevertheless the ruler of Athens by general and common, if not unanimous consent. The nature of his office perhaps corresponded more nearly to that of Herr Hitler in modern Germany than any other. Still, we hasten to add that no two rulers, perhaps, ever differed from each other more radically than Hitler and Pericles.

Contrast the blood-thirsty Hitler with his “political executions” with the peace-loving Pericles, who could, with apparent sincerity, say, almost with his last breath: “What you praise in me is the result of good fortune…You have not noticed what I chiefly pride myself upon: On my account, no Athenian ever wore mourning.”

But, although Pericles was no doubt guiltless so far as causing war was concerned, at least willingly and directly, it was his misfortune to be at the head of the Athenian state at the beginning of one of the most terrible conflicts in its history. And perhaps his very policies of nationalism were unwittingly and indirectly responsible for it in so far as arousing national jealousy was concerned. Of course, in the Greece of that day, nations were almost synonymous with cities.

City – Nations

Yet these cities with the small territory immediately surrounding them were nations, regardless of their size or population. Of these, the most important were Athens and Sparta. No two nations, large or small, perhaps could have been more unlike each other than these two Greek cities. Athens stood for democracy, education, culture, refinement, and beauty, while Sparta stood for personal daring and military autocracy.

It was almost impossible for two such nationalized cities to exist peaceably within the narrow confines of the Greek peninsula. We are not especially concerned about their many and varied quarrels just now. The only part they played in this sketch’s subject matter was furnishing the material for one of the great orations of antiquity.

It was in the year 431 B.C. that hostilities broke out between Athens and Sparta into the First Peloponnesian war. Pericles was yet at the head of the government of Athens, which, under his leadership, had been transformed almost literally from a town of mortar and stone into a city of bronze and marble. But the genius of Pericles, which had shown so brilliantly in peace, was undimmed by war and other disasters.

Nevertheless, his strategy was one of defense rather than offense, although he did make at least one great attack upon Sparta. His greatest service to the Athenians, perhaps, was the ability to keep up their morale, even when they were driven to take refuge within their citadel, when the invader laid their territory waste and when pestilence, a far deadlier enemy than Spartans, talking unchecked through the Athenian camp and thinned the desolate population. Then it was that the genius of Pericles rose to its full height.

Even before that time, it had been the custom for the Athenians to set aside a certain day, at intervals, to pay tribute to those of their citizens who fell in defense of their country. But never before had Athens been called upon to make such sacrifices.

Memorial Service

But despite all her troubles, Athens was not forgetful of her heroes. After the great war with Sparta had continued for a year, the people of Athens, according to their custom, chose a day for a general memorial service to their heroic dead. As was customary also, it was decided to choose an outstanding personage to deliver the principal address of the day. And almost by common and unanimous consent, it appears Pericles was honored with this choice.

And just as he had so many times risen to other occasions, he rose to this. His effort on this occasion resulted in the celebrated “Funeral Oration.” It differed from the conventional speech of its kind in being delivered as a eulogy, not for one individual whose remains lay before the speaker but for all the dead who had perished up to that time in the great conflict with Sparta. Thus, while it was not purely and simply an address in honor of the unknown soldiers, they were included in the praise bestowed upon the slain in general.

The” Funeral Oration” of Pericles is important historically for many reasons.

First, it may be regarded as the beginning of a national custom of Memorial Day on a grand scale for public heroes who passed away.

Second, it was probably the origin of the custom of publicly honoring the unknown dead, i.e., those who had died but whose remains had been unidentified or whose final resting place had become unknown to their friends and fellow citizens.

And third, it was also probably the origin of the custom of speakers on such occasions to utilize the theme, the setting, and the general attitude of the public mind to teach a lesson, preach a doctrine or propagandize a theory.

Thus, Pericles took advantage of his opportunity not merely to eulogize dead heroes but to teach a great lesson in patriotism and, thus, fire his living countrymen’s lagging spirits.

Thucydides Record

However, Pericles spoke extemporaneously and did not think enough of his effort to transmit it to paper for posterity to read and study. Fortunately, however, Athens had, at that time, a great history in the person of the celebrated Thucydides, who recorded in substance what Pericles said and what other orators of the period had to say.

Thucydides admitted that he did not make a very accurate report of these speeches, so far as exact wording was concerned. He said that it was hard for him, or others reporting to him, to recall the exact words of the speakers, but of course, he could report the general sentiment they expressed.

This he did, giving the general purport of what a given speaker said on a given occasion. And, as in translating from one language into another, if the translator wishes to give a smooth reading translation, one must frequently depart somewhat from a literal translation of the speeches reported by Thucydides into English, give to us perhaps as accurate an English version of them as if they were translated directly for the speakers’ own words or copies of them.

And so, it is reasonable to conclude that the report of the celebrated “Funeral Oration” of Pericles, as readers of today receive it through the works of Thucydides, is fairly accurate as to contents and style. And according to that historian, we see something of what Pericles said on that momentous occasion over 2,000 years ago.

As the day had been set aside to memorialize those who had died for their country, Pericles skillfully transferred the main theme of this oration to the greatness of the city for which they had made such a sacrifice. He described the institutions which, even then, were making Athens famous. He praised the government in which each citizen, be he rich or poor, could have a part.

Observed Contrasts

He pointed out, too, the efficient military system of Athens but contrasted it with that of Sparta, in which the citizen was sacrificed to the soldier. He pointed out that although all Sparta was regimented, as one today might say, into a huge military camp, she had not been able to conquer Athens, where democracy prevailed.

He praised the Athenians’ moral, intellectual, and social virtues in contrast to the one quality of personal daring stressed by the Spartans. He called Athens “the school of Hellas” and the model for all other cities. The term Hellas, of course, was the ancient name of the land known today as Greece.

Warming to his subject, so to speak, and doubtless encouraged by the enthusiasm of his hearers, Pericles then launched forth into the encomium of Athens. She, of all the then-existing cities of the world, alone was greater than the reports about her so he stated.

No Homer was needed to celebrate or perpetuate the greatness of Athens. But Pericles, despite the propaganda tone that crept into his oration, skillfully kept it upon the high plane on which it had begun. Just as he appeared to have deserted his original theme for a nationalistic sword-rattling speech, he brought his hearer back to his main theme by exclaiming: “Such is the city for whose sake these men nobly fought and died; they could not bear the thought that she might be taken from them, and every one of us who survive should gladly toil on her behalf.”

Continuing with a tribute more directly addressed, perhaps to the bravery and patriotism of the departed, Pericles more nearly approached the modern idea of memorials to the unknown soldier when he declared that the memorials to the dead were not the stones set up in the cemeteries “for the whole earth is the sepulcher of famous men” and their memorials are “graven not on stone but in the hearts of mankind,” said Pericles according to Thucydides, the great oration being concluded with a few well-chosen words of comfort for the surviving relatives and friends of those who had fallen in defense of Athens.

Pattern for Moderns

As one review the celebrated “Funeral Oration” of Pericles, one can hardly avoid being impressed, perhaps by the simplicity of it, of many speeches delivered on similar occasions today. And it would probably be a fine thing if more people today would read and meditate more upon what such men as Pericles had to say.

It might take some of the conceit out of some modern orators, not to mention some modern demagogues, if they would but reflect that all the subtleties of logic, all the wiles of diplomacy, and all the emotions of oratory, upon which they set so much store – all these and more – were old and well know accomplishments to the Greeks over 20 centuries ago.

And despite all the progress of civilization and the civilization of uncivilized people during the intervening period, it is doubtful if mankind has ever produced any other group of persons so able to sway public opinion by simple oratory as was that group whom we may classify as the orators of ancient Greece. Furthermore, while Pericles was probably not the greatest of them all, he certainly was not the least.

It may be well to emphasize that this type of public speaking, which we refer to as oratory, is not limited to the mere emotional side of public speaking. The result of emotional persuasion necessarily depends upon the emotionalism of the audience as well as upon the ability of the speaker to play upon emotion.

And similarly, the result of logic and reason in a crowd depends upon the logicalness and reasonableness of that crowd as well as upon the ability of the speaker to present facts in a logical order. Now the Greeks, no doubt, were subject to at least an ordinary, and possibly an extraordinary, amount of emotion. But they were also very logical, if not always reasonable people. And, of course, the logic of the language and the beauty of expression in their orations appeal to us today.

But to return to our main theme – the history of the custom of honoring the so-called unknown dead. In this sketch, we have almost reversed our usual method of narrative. We believe that my story, as a rule, whether it be history or fiction, should begin at the beginning and proceed in chronological order to the end, or at least to the conclusion of the narrative if that is not the end of the entire theme or story.

Of course, circumstances alter cases, and variety may suggest a slight departure from this general rule. In this article, dealing with the general theme of the so-called “unknown soldier,” it appeared reasonable to start with that phase of the ideas with which most people perhaps are most familiar, then proceed to that which was common some thirty years ago, and finally, turn to its ancient manifestations.

Now it may be well, in a few brief concluding paragraphs of this sketch, to “right about face,” so to speak, and summarize our findings in their chronological order.

First, it may be said that the custom of honoring the “unknown soldiers” grew out of an older custom of honoring unknown dead in general. And it may also be said that the beginnings are lost in antiquity if we consider them in their general aspects.

Moreover, all through the ages, certain individuals have been intrigued by the idea. Thomas Gray reveals this trait in his celebrated “Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard,” in which he pays tribute to “the rude forefathers of the hamlet” who had been almost forgotten by their descendants of only a few succeeding generations, to say nothing of the world in general, and so he muses:

“Some village Hampden that with dauntless breast
The little tyrant of his field withstood,
Some mute, inglorious Milton here may rest,
Some Cromwell guiltless of his country’s blood.”

But as a more nearly pure military gesture, the memorialization of the unknown dead began on a large scale with the “Funeral Oration” of Pericles, as herein noted. After that, various peoples followed the practice sporadically down through history, but such memorials generally consisted either of addresses similar to that of Pericles or of markers with limited significance, such as monuments on battlefields where unidentified remains of soldiers were interred.

But it remained for the United States to inaugurate the custom of annually commemorating the sacrifices of both known and unknown soldiers and sailors and for the great nations that participated in the World war to choose an unknown body for interment as typical of unknown soldiers in general of each of those nations.

It is perhaps a little more accurate to say that the American memorial service originated with certain classes in the country than with the nation itself. Among these were the women of the south and north near the close of the Civil war, veterans of that war, and particularly the Grand Army of the Republic.

It appears that the custom of having an annual observance of the custom honoring, especially those soldiers known and unknown who have sacrificed their lives for their country, originated with the women of Richmond, Virginia, just after the close of the Civil war.

In the spring of 1866, southerners began decorating the graves of Confederate soldiers, whose remains resting in Hollywood and Oakwood cemeteries alone numbered about 36,000. On April 19, the Oakwood Memorial association was formed. On May 10, some 500 persons met at the Third Presbyterian church and marched to Oakwood to scatter flowers on Confederate graves. After that, the custom was adopted in other southern states and began to be copied in some places in the north.

Among the graves decorated by those early observers of Decoration Day were many marked “unknown.” And, after the Grand Army of the Republic, by order of its commander, General John A. Logan, began the annual observance of Decoration Day on May 30, it could certainly number on its rolls the names of many a comrade whose final resting place was “unknown.” Thus, arose the custom, already mentioned, of dedicating a certain plot in a cemetery to the memory of “The Unknown Soldiers and Sailors” of the Republic.

And so we see that when the great nations of the world, following the Armistice of November 11, 1918, began setting their houses in order and providing memorials for the slain, the idea of the grave of the Unknown Soldier blossomed forth in its present form.