Scenes from Civil War New York: Decoration Day, 1873

ECW is pleased to welcome back Jonathan W. White and Timothy Justin Orr, authors of New York City in the Civil War (Arcadia, 2025) with another scene from Civil War New York. Part of a series.

Decoration Days became yearly tradition, and they soon they involved public spectacle, as Union veterans paraded through the city streets holding aloft their tattered colors. This sketch depicts the Decoration Day parade of 1873, as Union veterans marched through Union Square, the Washington Monument in the background. The four battle flags likely belonged to the 45th, 47th, 58th, and 68th New York Volunteers. The New York Herald noticed how, over the years, the parade had become increasingly casual. Some aging veterans, unable to fit into their uniforms, wore their civilian clothes. Others, too infirm to walk without assistance, required family members to accompany them. One reporter wrote, “To say that there was anything imposing in the appearance of the procession would be at variance with the facts, for there was, considering the really military nature and origin of the ceremony, and the military character of its participants, a decided lack of uniformity in it.”

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Today’s scene relates to “A City’s Memories of War,” Chapter Twelve in Jonathan and Tim’s book New York City in the Civil War, part of the Images of America Series from Arcadia Press.