The True Meaning of Memorial Day

Decoration Day or Memorial Day?

The question was still unsettled in 1892 when graves of veterans across Ocean County were decorated in ceremonies that took legions from the Grand Army of the Republic and other patriots on pilgrimages to places where those who died in the nation’s wars were buried.

There were far fewer graves then, fewer wars and fewer fallen warriors.

Decoration Day began, ironically, where the Civil War started, in Charleston, S.C. It was there that cadets from The Citadel fired the first shots of that war at the Star of the West, a ship supplying Union troops at Fort Sumpter. The confederates defeated, free men began the Decoration Day tradition there in 1865.

It was 1882 before some decided to rename the annual homage to the fallen Memorial Day.

There would be no official recognition of that name until 1967.

The prayer for reconciliation of the North and the South was on the minds of many as patriots gathered early on May 30, 1892, at Grand Army of the Republican posts in Ocean County.

In Toms River they gathered at the A. E. Burnside Post 50. Flags and bunting hung from many homes and stores. Unlike today, most businesses were closed for the day to honor the veterans. The observance began Sunday night, with services honoring the fallen soldiers at the similarly decorated Methodist Church at Washington Street and Hooper Avenue. There were more people at the service than there were seats in the church. Seats in the front were reserved for members of the G.A.R. Members of the Magnolia Council Jr. Order of American Mechanics flanked the pulpit.

Lt. Col. S. C. Bailey of the 14^th New Jersey Volunteers led the service. “Laurels and roses, lilies and cypress, kissed by the starlight, waked by the sun, lay them, oh tenderly, over the heroes of the cause that was lost and the cause that was won,’’ was part of a poem that appeared in Good Housekeeping magazine that was recited.

The Rev. R. B. Stephenson made a strong pitch for calling the observance Memorial Day, arguing that it should be a sacred day observed by future generations, not just another holiday.

Equally eloquent was the plea of Capt. Thomas W. Middleton of the 9^th New Jersey Volunteers for having May 30 remembered as Decoration Day.

The sun rose Monday morning on Decoration Day and Memorial Day. Flowers were loaded into wagons at the G.A.R. Post. Veterans, patriots and children made their way first to Bayville, to decorate the graves there. Then it was on to the cemeteries at churches in Cedar Grove and Silverton. Lunch was served to the veterans at Silverton, after Middleton and the Rev. Steadman Applegate addressed the throng. The wagons returned to Toms River, where graves at Riverside Cemetery and the graveyard at the Methodist church were decorated. In the years to follow the observance was expanded to include a march to Robbins Cove where a wreath was thrown into the river in remembrance of those who lost their lives in service to their country at sea.

Similar observances were held across the county.

In Point Pleasant, members of the Elwood Arnold Post 87 of the G.A.R. met at the Post Room before leading a delegation and the 14-member Point Pleasant Drum Corps to Osbornville to mark graves in the Methodist and Baptist church cemeteries. Charles Wardell and Abraham Lower spoke at the ceremonies.  At Burrsville the ceremonies were followed by lunch prepared by Jonathan Goble. In the middle of the afternoon the veterans were joined in West Point Pleasant by the Knights of the Golden Eagle, Onward Council 23 of the OUAM of Osbornville, and Ocean Fire Company No. 1.

They formed into a group led by the Point Pleasant silver coronet band and the drum corps and marched to White Lawn Cemetery, where Rev. J. G. Edwards spoke of the sacrifices of those who lived and died in the war to preserve the union. A short parade through the streets of Point Pleasant followed.

In Tuckerton it was Ryerson Post 77 of the G.A.R. that led the Decoration Day observance. A special train was run from Tuckerton to Barnegat, taking the veterans and their supports first to Barnegat where Rev. J. W. Morris prayed over the veterans’ graves.

On the return stops were made at Manahawkin, West Creek and Parkertown to pay tribute to veterans. Graves were decorated in Tuckerton too, before the old soldiers broke for lunch. They formed up again at 2 p.m. and went with the Lakeside Council Jr. OUAM and the Perry coronet band to the West Tuckerton School for a flag-raising. The flag was given to the school by Rev. J. B. Sheppard and accepted by E. W. Stiles. Small flags were tucked into the folds of the one being raised and many of the estimated 500 people on hand tried to get one as a souvenir.

Lakewood, then was now, was the biggest town in Ocean County. The Reno Post 84 of the G.A.R. led the observance there. Memorial services were conducted Sunday morning at the Baptist Church. On Decoration Day the post members and others went by wagon to Woodlawn Cemetery, Hope church and Whitesville in decorate the graves.

The OUAM Councils of Lakewood and Jackson presented a flag that was raised at the Whitesville School. The veterans returned to Lakewood and after lunch attended a memorial service at the Methodist Church, where the thinning ranks of the Civil War veterans was noted and the hope expressed that “when the last soldier of the Civil War shall have passed away, still the graves shall be visited each spring time by the loving sons and grateful citizens of this free and united country.’’