They had to raise a lot of money for a big pedestal. There were many efforts, but the fruit of one of them you might recall.

The group asked writers for essays and poems for an auction. Among them, Emma Lazarus.

She wrote a poem called The New Colossus, which includes these enduring words, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

Emma, of course, was writing about the Statue of Liberty, which she'd only seen in pictures because the statue was under construction in France.

Her poem was published, but mostly forgotten until 1903.

You can find those words and that pedestal beneath the Statue of Liberty to this day.

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/emma-lazarus

https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/emma-lazarus.htm

https://www.loc.gov/programs/poetry-and-literature/audio-recordings/poetry-of-america/item/poetry-00001033/alicia-ostriker-emma-lazarus/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty

https://www.history.com/articles/statue-of-liberty

And according to the Library of Congress, women in Mississippi, Virginia, and South Carolina sang hymns in their honor.

After the war, the decorations and performances grew, spreading to the graves of Union soldiers.

The celebrations grew too, becoming parades in just about every hamlet, town, village, and city in our land.

Many towns claim they celebrated first, including Waterloo, New York, Bolburg, Pennsylvania, and Columbus, Mississippi.

We don't know who had the first parade, but what we do know, that it was an army order that made May 30th, 1868, America's first Decoration Day.

We know it as Memorial Day.

Library of congress: General Order Number 11 designating May 30 as a memorial day “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 churchyard in the land.” https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/may-30

 How ‘Decoration Day’ Became Memorial Day: https://www.military.com/holidays/memorial-day/how-decoration-day-became-memorial-day.html

At first, she collected bandages, food, and medicine, bringing them to the battlefields herself.

She crossed lines, entered hospitals, and cared for men whose names she didn't know, going places where most people were trying to escape.

Her heroics earned her a nickname: “The Angel of the Battlefield.”

And when the war ended, with President Abraham Lincoln's permission, she opened an “office of missing soldiers.” From that perch, she helped reunite more than 20,000 soldiers with their families.

And if that weren't enough, during a trip to Switzerland, she found herself in awe of a group of volunteers who inspired the American Red Cross.

On that note, I'm James A. Brown, and as always, be well.

https://www.thenmusa.org/biographies/clara-barton/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Clara-Barton

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/clara-barton

During a five-hour battle off the coast of England with a British warship in 1779, his ship was badly damaged. Cannons tore through it, fires were burning, and water rushed in.

And to the British captain, the fight looked over. So the captain asked John Paul if he was ready to surrender. But not John Paul. He told him, "I have not yet begun to fight."

Despite a line for the ages, it wasn't his night. His ship and crew were captured, but

John Paul was honored with a Congressional Gold Medal for valor and brilliant service a decade later.

Sources

https://www.americanrevolution.org/i-have-not-yet-begun-to-fight/

https://www.onthisday.com/articles/i-have-not-yet-begun-to-fight

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/johnpauljones.htm

https://emergingrevolutionarywar.org/2019/09/23/bonhomme-richard-vs-serapis/

https://history.house.gov/historicalhighlight/detail/15032392026?lang=en

He read and reread the Bible and a few other books he could find as his family moved through the early American frontier.

As a young man, he settled in Illinois, worked on a farm, then worked as a store clerk, studied law, talked politics, and when his number was called, he went to war. By 19, he stood six foot four and wrestled Olympic style.

He took on all comers, and some say he won more than 300 times, but who knows for sure.

All those fights and struggles prepared him to lead through the biggest battles in our nation's history.

We know this self-taught man as President Abraham Lincoln.

On that note, I'm James A. Brown, and as always, be well.

Sources:

https://www.whitehousehistory.org/bios/abraham-lincoln

https://allthatsinteresting.com/abraham-lincoln-wrestling

https://nwhof.org/hall_of_fame/bio/128

https://www.nps.gov/abli/planyourvisit/lincolnbio.htm

It was a birthday like none other, and that morning, around 9:00 AM, his present was giving the nation news on the radio that few of them would ever forget.

”This is a solemn but a glorious hour. I only wish that Franklin D. Roosevelt had lived to witness this day. General Eisenhower informs me that the forces of Germany have surrendered to the United Nations.”

In New York, soldiers, sailors, and civilians poured into Times Square. Church bells rang, car horns blasted, people sang in the streets because the war in Europe was over, and that day became known as VE Day, Victory in Europe.

On that note, I'm James A. Brown, and as always, be well

Learn more:

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/26/presidents-news-conference-v-e-day

https://www.trumanlittlewhitehouse.org/guide/ve-day

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Harry-S-Truman

https://www.whitehousehistory.org/events/hhh-v-e-day-fdrs-hope-and-national-unity

James Marshall was a young carpenter from New Jersey who didn't get along with his stern father.

His early life was filled with rejection, including from two young women whom he hoped to marry.

He drifted into the Ohio Valley, settling in Missouri for a while, eventually heading to Oregon by wagon train. He put those carpentry skills to work making tools and furniture for John Sutter in California.

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He fought in the Mexican-American War and then returned to Sutter, this time as a partner in a sawmill along a river.

Each morning, James would inspect the property, and then on one fateful January day, he saw something gleaming at the bottom of a ditch.

In 1884, James Marshall found gold, beginning the California Gold Rush.

On that note, I'm James A. Brown, and as always, be well.

Learn More:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Marshall
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-jamesmarshall/
https://historynet.com/james-marshall-californias-gold-discoverer/
https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=484

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