Status: Active

Established: May 10th, 1896

Established By: United Daughters Of The Confederacy

Confederate Memorial Day (called Confederate Heroes Day in Texas and Florida, and Confederate Decoration Day in Tennessee) is a cultural holiday observed in several Southern U.S. states on various dates since the end of the Civil War to remember the estimated 258,000 Confederate soldiers who died in military service.

It is an official state holiday in South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Tennessee. The holiday is observed in late April in some states. That recalls the surrender of the last major Confederate field army at Bennett Place on Wednesday, April 26, 1865.

South Carolina timeline...

• 1896: May 10, Confederate Memorial Day, added as state holiday
• 1896: January 19, Robert E. Lee's birthday, added as state holiday, wasn't on 2020 calendar
• 1898: June 3, Jefferson Davis' birthday, added as state holiday, wasn't on 2020 calendar
• 1978: Employees can pick one of the Confederate-related holidays or January 15 as a day off
• 1983: National Memorial Day added as state holiday. Employees' optional holiday broadened to include any day they choose.
• 2000: Martin Luther King Day and Confederate Memorial Day become mandatory state holidays