From the Keeper’s Desk – May 26

Greetings,

Deanna, John and I painted siding for the Summer Kitchen with solid color white stain. We had a good start last Thursday and almost finished this morning before we ran out of stain.

The Lighthouse was open today. There were lots of visitors on the grounds. Not sure how many toured the lighthouse. Many were appreciative of the work we are doing.

Today is Memorial Day, once known as Decoration Day. Sydney started the morning with the flag at half staff in honor of our fallen heroes. At noon she raised it to full staff. On Memorial Day, the U.S. flag is flown at half-staff from sunrise until noon, then raised to full-staff until sunset. This display is a way to honor those who have died in service to their country.

In this Keeper’s Desk is a tribute to Memorial Day.

Ed

Remembering the Civil War

As we remember the fallen heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, from the Revolutionary War onwards, this year we should remember those of the Civil War as it was 160 years ago that it came to an end.

The human cost of the Civil War was beyond anybody’s expectations.  The young nation experienced bloodshed of a magnitude that has not been equaled since by any other American conflict. 

The war took a massive toll. According to statistics compiled by the National Park Service, 110,100 men on the Union side lost their lives in combat, and another 275,174 were wounded in action, while 94,000 Confederates were killed and another 194,026 were wounded. Still more soldiers died of disease, starvation and accidents, so the total death toll may have been as high as 850,000, according to a 2011 analysis.

Decoration Day

The years following the end of the Civil War in 1865 saw American communities tending to the remains and graves of an unprecedented number of war dead. All of the previous wars and conflicts fought by the United States combined would still not add up to the body count produced by the Civil War.

On the first official Decoration Day — May 30, 1868 — Ohio Rep. James A. Garfield, a former general and future U.S. president, addressed a crowd of 5,000 gathered at Arlington National Cemetery:

“Hither our children’s children shall come to pay their tribute of grateful homage. For this are we met today. By the happy suggestion of a great society, assemblies like this are gathering at this hour in every State in the Union.

Thousands of soldiers are today turning aside in the march of life to visit the silent encampments of dead comrades who once fought by their side. From many thousand homes, whose light was put out when a soldier fell, there go forth today to join these solemn processions loving kindred and friends, from whose heart the shadow of grief will never be lifted till the light of the eternal world dawns upon them.”

After Garfield spoke, the 5,000 visitors made their way into the cemetery to visit the tens of thousands of graves in the newly formed cemetery.

But Decoration Day was not an official holiday. May 30 was a day touted by the Grand Army of the Republic, an association of Union Civil War veterans, as an official day of remembrance for people across the country. The idea was to honor the war’s dead by decorating the graves of Union soldiers.

Local municipalities and states adopted resolutions over the following years to make Decoration Day an official holiday in their areas. Each of the former Union states had adopted a Decoration Day by 1890.

Our own Light Keeper William Duclon was a Civil War Veteran

DUCLON, WILLIAM H.—Age, 18 years. Enlisted, December 17, 1863, at Alexandria; mustered in as private, Co. K, December 21, 1863, to serve three years; wounded June 17, 1864; discharge date, November 20, 1864