Documents Behind Our Holidays
D2.His.10.K-2
Read each document or text, then answer the questions.
The Order That Began Decoration Day
From General Order No. 11, by General John A. Logan, May 5, 1868. It set aside Decoration Day, which later became Memorial Day. (A note for this worksheet: "the late rebellion" means the Civil War.) The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet church-yard in the land.
- 1. Was this day for one town or for the whole country? How do you know?
- 2. Where did the bodies of these soldiers lie?
- 3. What were people asked to put on the graves?
General Order No. 3
From General Order No. 3, read by Major General Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865. June 19 is remembered as Juneteenth, a federal holiday since 2021. The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages.
- 1. Why do Americans remember June 19 as Juneteenth?
- 2. Did the order say that freed people and former masters had equal rights?
- 3. What were the freedmen told to work for?
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