120 Years Ago
As the Civil War veterans got older, Decoration Day (later called "Memorial Day") observances became more and more elaborate. A 1905 Transcript article entitled “Old Boys in Blue Honor Their Dead” described the full panoply.
That year, the downtown buildings were decorated with flags and bunting. Many businesses closed, out of respect for the day. In deference to the wishes of veterans, no games or frivolity were planned.
The day began with a procession of carriages going to the Golden Cemetery. There they were greeted by a squad of active servicemen and a bugler. There was a ceremony, a rifle salute, and the playing of Taps. The group then visited the grave of every soldier and sailor and laid a wreath and flowers at each one.
That afternoon, they met at the Opera House (now the Ace Hi). Seats had been reserved for the Grand Army veterans, the Women’s Relief Corps (wives and daughters of veterans), public school classes, the “Boys’ Brigade,” and a group of boys from the Industrial School.
The Transcript said that more than 600 seats had been provided and there was standing room only. (I was surprised to learn that the second floor of that building could hold so many.)
Speeches were given and patriotic songs were sung. The President of the School of Mines (Victor Alderson) then spoke of his own patriotic feelings, inspired by the Civil War soldiers he knew as a boy.
After the service, the Boys’ Brigade escorted the group to Clear Creek. There, the Women’s Relief Corps tossed flowers into the water, in memory of dead sailors. This was followed by another rifle salute and Taps.
The Industrial School had its own program, which included songs, recitations, readings, band music, and a speaker.
George West, who founded the Colorado Transcript in 1866 and remained its editor for 40 years, was a veteran of the Civil War and very involved in Grand Army of the Republic events. He likely planned many of the Decoration Day ceremonies and almost certainly wrote the article describing them in such detail. George died a year after this Decoration Day, and while the events may have remained splendid, the descriptions of them in the Transcript were never again quite as poignant.
