Monday, May 27, is Memorial Day. While the date only became a federal holiday in 1971, it dates back to 1866, when the women of Columbus, Miss., laid flowers on the graves of Union and Confederate dead soldiers buried in the town’s Friendship Cemetery.

Columbus had been a hospital town, treating wounded soldiers. Many were brought there after the Battle of Shiloh, with the cemetery eventually containing 2,000 graves of Confederate and 150 graves of Union soldiers who did not survive.

New York poet Francis Miles Finch, who happened to be in town that day and attended the ceremony, later penned the poem “The Blue and the Grey,” the first stanza of which read, “By the flow of the inland river / Whence the fleets of iron have fled / Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver / Asleep are the ranks of the dead / Under the sod and the dew / Waiting the judgment-day / Under the one, the Blue / Under the other, the Gray.”

The memorial spread across the South as Memorial Day, later Confederate Memorial Day, to differentiate it from Decoration Day, which began in the North in 1868 and honored those who died to preserve the Union during the American Civil War.

The event become more commonly practiced after World War II, when it expanded to honor those who died in the two world wars.

The date was officially named Memorial Day in 1967 and made a federal holiday by Congress in 1971.

The weekend preceding Memorial Day has also become the de facto kickoff to summer, although “summer” this year is a relative term considering we got a freak later spring snow on the red rocks above 6,500 feet on Thursday, May 23.

Families around the state use the weekend to visit local lakes, state parks, national monuments and tourist destinations. By the last Monday in May, most of Arizona’s schools and universi­ties have graduated their seniors and let out for summer break.

It is also a weekend known for heavy drinking and an increased number of driving under the influence arrests. Clarkdale, Cottonwood, Jerome, Sedona and Flagstaff police, deputies from the Camp Verde Marshal’s Office and Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office, and Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers will be conducting satu­ration patrols, meaning more uniformed officers will be on the road, specifically looking for drunk drivers.

If you plan to imbibe alcohol at barbecues, gatherings, restaurants or bars this weekend, have a designated driver or call a cab. There are numerous taxi services and car services that now operate in Sedona and Verde Valley. The price of cab is far cheaper than court fines and the installa­tion of an interlock device should you get arrested for DUI.

You could also prevent loss of life or serious injury, perhaps just your own, by planning ahead before you drink. Please be safe over the weekend.

Come Monday, remember the purpose of this weekend is to honor our fallen. The Sedona Marine Corps League invites the public to attend a Memorial Day ceremony at 9 a.m. at the Sedona Military Service Park, located at 25 Northview Road on the southwest corner of State Route 89A and Northview Road in West Sedona.

The event will include a flag-raising and music by Sammy Davis and last about 90 minutes, per Sedona Marine Corps League Commandant and Sedona City Councilman Bill Chisholm.

Many of us also use Memorial Day to remember our relatives who went to war and gave the last full measure of devotion on the battlefield or have since shuffled off this mortal coil after returning safely home as veterans. However you enjoy this weekend, on Monday, pay tribute to those who fought to give us the civic freedoms we enjoy.

— Christopher Fox Graham

Managing Editor