Status: Resolved

Established: 1874

Resolved: 2009

In the summer of 2015, Gov. Nathan Deal quietly removed the official observation of both Confederate Memorial Day and Robert E. Lee's birthday from the official state calendar.

A blog post from the official state blog at Georgia.gov in April 2015 details the history of the original Confederate Memorial Day, tying its origin to a women's group in downstate Columbus, Georgia in 1874 who wanted to honor those from the Confederacy who died during the Civil War.

"Confederate Memorial Day in Georgia was meant to mark April 26, 1865 - the day Georgia surrendered to General William T. Sherman ending the Civil War in Georgia. Legend has it that a group of women in Columbus, Ga., (later to become the Atlanta Ladies' Memorial Association) started a campaign to honor those who died during the Civil War."