South Carolina closes government offices in observance of Confederate Memorial Day
By Associated Press article
The Confederate flag is waved by supporters in protest of its removal from the Capitol, 01 July 2000 in Columbia, SC. (Photo credit should read ERIK PEREL/AFP via Getty Images)
COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina closed state government offices Monday to mark Confederate Memorial Day.
Some local government offices also closed in observation of the holiday, held every year on May 10.
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South Carolina will close state government offices Monday to mark Confederate Memorial Day.
Some local government offices will also close in observation of the holiday, held every year on May 10.
South Carolina is among a handful of states in the South with such an official holiday.
State offices in Alabama and Mississippi closed down for their Confederate Memorial Days late last month.
South Carolina chose May 10 because it is the day when Confederate Gen. Thomas Stonewall Jackson died in 1863 after he was wounded by his own troops and the day Union soldiers captured fleeing Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Georgia in 1865.
Origin
In mid-May 2021, Snopes became aware of numerous online searches to determine whether laws in some U.S. states designate a legal holiday to honor the Confederacy or Confederate soldiers who fought during the Civil War.
When we looked into the matter, we found that this is true.
As of spring 2021, official calendars for a handful of states still memorialize the 11 Southern states that temporarily seceded from the U.S. to try to maintain slavery, or the some 290,000 Confederate troops who died fighting the failed separationists’ cause.
The state-sanctioned holidays, which occur annually throughout January and June, spur events ranging from ceremonies to place flags and wreaths on Confederate soldiers’ graves to re-enactments of Civil War battles.
Confederate Memorial Day closes South Carolina government offices
Updated May 10, 2021;
Posted May 10, 2021
A statue of Confederate cavalry leader, slave owner and Democratic politician Wade Hampton III (1818-1902) on horseback situated in the grounds of South Carolina State House. Construction work first began on the State House in 1851 and was completed in 1907, it was designated a national historic landmark in 1976 for its significance in the post-civil war reconstruction era. (Photo by Epics/Getty Images)
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South Carolina will close state government offices Monday to mark Confederate Memorial Day.
Some local government offices will also close in observation of the holiday, held every year on May 10.