"The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet church-yard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit." -- General John Logan, National Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic.
And thus was born "Decoration Day." It was a day, officially recognized (at least in the North) as a day to remember and decorate the graves of those soldiers that gave their lives in the American Civil War. (In Southern states, that war is often known as the War of Northern Aggression, but in the North, we simply call it the Civil War.) After World War I, the day was transformed to be a day of remembrance for those that gave their lives in all wars, not just the Civil War and it became known as Memorial Day. Then, in the National Holiday Act of 1971, Congress moved the date to the last Monday in May in order to provide a three day weekend for federal employees. That move, however, diminished the meaning of the holiday, and it simply became a day for family outings and barbeques to mark the beginning of the traditional summer season in the US. (Labor Day in September ends it.) Few mark the true meaning of the day, which seems to me to be a national tragedy. All that we hold dear was paid for with the blood of American soldiers, and it is a shame to see the day set aside to honor those that paid the ultimate sacrifice lose its true meaning.
Today's photo was taken at the North Burial Ground in Providence. This hillside contains the graves of Rhode Island soldiers that fought in the Civil War. My great-great-grandfather, James Major Pierce, is buried here. He fought in the Union Army for Battery F of the Rhode Island Light Artillery. The monument in the center of the graves is an upturned civil war canon, the traditional marker for the graves of soldiers in the Grand Army of the Republic.
A quick note on the composition is in order. First, since a rule of thumb is that all horizon lines must be horizontal, I need to point out that the hillside truly slopes to the right. The horizon IS horizontal but the hill is not. Second, I had to resist the urge to spotlight any of the graves. The Civil War was a battle fought by the masses, and through either war or disease, more Americans gave their lives in this fight than in any other war in our history. It would not be appropriate in the context of Decoration Day to single out any one of them for this photo. Thus, the shot keeps the gravestones themselves non-distinct. For post processing, I added a brilliant cold filter in Topaz Adjust, and then did the b&w conversion using a gradient map in color blend mode. I added a slight levels adjustment followed by a sepia photo filter.
Great history of this too.