In the United States, why isn't there a holiday to commemorate the end of the Civil War?

postcards2go

Memorial Day was originally the day to commemorate *Union* dead in the Civil War. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day I would imagine that the South didn't/doesn't consider it a victory, in the same way that the UK doesn't celebrate July 4th. Aug 21 10, 3:42 PM

star_gazer

They used to call it Decoration Day. Way back in 1865, a group of freed slaves in South Carolina honored fallen Union soldiers who’d died fighting for their freedom by turning a mass grave at a race track into a proper military cemetery. Today we mark Memorial Day with a three-day weekend (ah, freedom) that includes assorted parades, flags, barbecues (weather permitting), a celebration of conspicuous consumption of fossil fuels in the form of the Indianapolis 500... http://www.northcoastjournal.com/music/2010/05/27/decoration-day/ Today, Memorial Day, celebrated on the last Monday of May, now honors the dead US servicemen and US servicewomen of all wars. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day Down South, a Confederate memorial Day is celebrated on April 26 in Georgia and Florida; June 3 (Jefferson Davis' birthday) in Kentucky and Louisiana; and the last Monday of April in Alabama and Mississippi. http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/confederate-memorial-day Aug 21 10, 5:00 PM

Arpeggionist

And anyway, how many national holidays would anyone find anywhere celebrating the end of any war? (In Israel, the events celebrated in holidays often came in the middle wars or marked the beginnings of war, but never marked their end.) Aug 22 10, 2:57 AM