For Memorial Day: Tales of two Yale soldiers

After the Civil War, it became an annual tradition in many communities to decorate the graves of the fallen soldiers. Decoration Day, as it was called, later became the national holiday known as Memorial Day.

In honor of the holiday’s origins, here are the stories of two Yale students who died in the War Between the States.

Yale’s first casualty in the Civil War

Theodore Winthrop (1848) was a lawyer, adventurer, reporter, and novelist. From a distinguished New England and Yale family, Winthrop joined the Union army shortly after the attack at Fort Sumter. He was possibly the first officer from the North killed in action in the Civil War. He received a hero's funeral and burial in Grove Street Cemetery. Here, Yale archivist Judith Schiff tells his story.

Yale’s last casualty in the Civil War

Uriah Parmelee dropped out of Yale in 1861 to join the Union forces. An ardent abolitionist, Parmelee devoted himself with renewed dedication to the Union cause after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which made eradicating slavery a primary goal of the war. Yale historian David Blight tells his story.