Decoration Day

"From the silence of sorrowful hours,

the desolate mourners go,

lovingly laden with flowers,

alike for the friend and the foe:

Under the sod and the dew,

waiting the judgment day,

under the roses the Blue

under the lilies the Gray."

Memorial Day has its origins in the Civil War era when it was known as Decoration Day, the day when North and South decorated the graves of those who died in the war between the states. This postcard was mailed on Feb. 22, ca. 1916, and was marked "Decoration Day Series No. 1."