One hundred twenty-five years ago in 1898, taken directly from the pages of The Youngstown Vindicator. As the United States was in the early months of the Spanish American War, Decoration Day, or Memorial Day as we know it today, took on an ever deeper meaning:

“It is three and thirty years since Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox and since the cruel war between brothers came to an end, but those who fell in that fateful struggle have not been forgotten by their grateful countrymen, and each succeeding 30th of May, the youth of every city and hamlet in the country have been taught to remember that love of country is an essential of good citizenship and that good citizenship is never shown to better advantage than when one does honor to and keeps green the memory of those who fell that the Union might be ‘one and inseparable now and forever.’

“Another Decoration Day has come and gone and was brought with feelings of joy and sorrow. Joy that the last vestige of sectionalism has forever been blotted out and that the flag knows no north, no south, no east, no west, but a mighty sisterhood of states united by a common love for it and ready to defend it against any foreign foe.

“The army of Lee and Grant are now one and their sons sleep side by side and eat at the same table at the camp grounds at Chickamauga and Tampa.

“A feeling of additional sorrow comes on this day, when it is remembered that a year hence there will be many more graves to decorate and that some of the brave lads who have gone to the front will have joined the bivouac of the dead. The lesson is one that should inspire those at home with the greatest sentiment of reverence and patriotism and Youngstown today paid splendid tribute to the memory of its dead heroes and many a silent prayer went up, for those brave boys now waiting word to advance and bring the star of freedom to the ‘Gem of the Antilles.’ The demonstration in honor of the dead heroes was at once the most imposing and inspiring spectacle that the city has witnessed in years.

“Early Monday morning, the monument erected by a grateful people to honor those who fell in the war of 1861-1865, and which is located on the Diamond, was decorated with flags and flowers and the mourning colors. At 8 o’clock in the morning members of the Tod Post assembled at their hall and details were sent to Four Mile Run, Pleasant Grove, Brier Hill, Hume, Coitsville and Calvary cemeteries, and the graves in those cemeteries of the dead soldiers were properly decorated.

“The Post reassembled at 1 o’clock and then was held the parade, the finest in years. The old veterans were cheered by the assembled thousands and each organization in line was given the glad hand. The parade under the direction of Marshal Fred Hoffman and aides John H. Lett, A.L. Fell, and Col. J.H. Housteau moved promptly at 1:30 over the following route: east on Federal Street to the Diamond, around the soldiers’ monument and west on Federal Street; across Spring Common Bridge, up Mill Street (now Oak Hill Avenue) to the cemetery where the regular program was carried out.”

• Compiled from the Youngstown Vindicator by Traci Manning, Mahoning Valley Historical Society

curator of education.