In the wake of the Civil War’s end, on May 1, 1865, over 10,000 people, many of them formerly enslaved, gathered at a former Confederate prison camp in Charleston to honor Union soldiers buried in a mass grave. Led by Black community members, they exhumed the bodies for proper reburial, built a fence around the cemetery, and held a procession that included hymns, sermons, and picnics—marking one of the earliest known Memorial Day celebrations. This act of remembrance and dignity challenged the narrative of the Confederacy’s legacy and served as a symbolic claim of freedom, healing, and national unity. Though later overshadowed in popular accounts, this event remains a foundational moment in African American civic and cultural assertion during the Reconstruction era, demonstrating the role of Black Americans in shaping the nation’s commemorative traditions.