By Linda Rosenkrantz

　　Before you fire up the barbie or pack up the picnic basket, why not take a minute to think about what Memorial Day memorializes.

　　The holiday—originally called Decoration Day—was first commemorated on May 30, 1868, not long after the Civil War had ended, and was given that name because it was when flowers were placed on the graves of the Union and Confederate soldiers buried at Arlington National Cemetery. In the course of this brutal war  that tore the country apart, over a thousand soldiers reached the rank of general, several of whom went on to reach high offices in government, including six presidents– Ulysses S. Grant, Andrew Johnson, Benjamin Harris, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield and Chester A. Arthur.

　　And of course this mid-nineteenth century period was one of remarkable names in America—elaborate Latinate appellations, multi-syllabic Old Testament examples, unusual word names such as Speed and Zealous and Strong. It’s interesting to note that,  particularly on the Union side, a great many of these young soldiers had been given aspirational hero names as their two middles—so there were a number of them who had had Christopher Columbus, Americus Vespucius, Napoleon Bonaparte, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Patrick Henry or Ethan Allan inserted between their first and second names.  There was even one general named States Rights Gist. Looking through the lists of records of these high officers on both sides, the following names stood out:

　　UNION GENERALS

　　Absalom

　　Albion

　　Alonzo

　　Alpheus

　　Ambrose

　　Amiel

　　A**mos**

　　Augustus

　　Cadwallader

　　Cassius

　　Catharinus

　　Cyrus

　　Darius

　　Delevan

　　Ebenezer

　　Eleazer

　　Erasmus

　　Gershom

　　Green

　　Gustavus

　　Hiram

　　Horatio

　　Isham

　　Justus

　　Llewellyn

　　Lorenzo

　　Lucius

　　Lysander

　　Marcellus

　　Mosby

　　Orlando

　　Pleasant

　　Regis

　　Rufus

　　Speed

　　Strong

　　Sullivan

　　Ulysses

　　Winfield

　　Zealous

　　CONFEDERATE

　　Alpheus

　　Armistead

　　Braxton

　　Cadmus (known as Billy Fixin’)

　　Carnot

　　Claudius

　　Collett

　　Cullen

　　Ellison

　　Evander

　　Goode

　　Gustavus

　　Johnson

　　Jones

　　Jubal (known as Jube and Jubilee)

　　Junius

　　Leonidas

　　Marcellus

　　Maxcy

　　Raleigh (known as Parlez)

　　Theopholus (nicknamed Granny)

　　Turner

　　Tyree

　　Zachariah

　　Zebulon

　　…And a few cool surnames from both sides:

　　Ashby

　　Baird

　　Bee

　　Cullum

　　Duncan

　　Eaton

　　Egan

　　Frost

　　Kenly

　　Maxby

　　Moonlight

　　Paxton

　　Poe

　　Quinby

　　Ripley

　　Saxon

　　Sprague

　　Tucker

　　Vinton

　　Zook

　　Find any inspiration here?

　　Happy holiday, Berries!

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