Henry Carter Welles
Myth exposed
Myth exposed
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In 2014, almost fifty years after the Presidential proclamation, Bellware and Gardiner published *The Genesis of the Memorial Day Holiday in America*, which refutes the claim. According to the Waterloo Centennial Research Committee, there were no contemporaneous reports of this celebration. The earliest sources date from 1882, sixteen years after the event. The Waterloo legend states clearly that the founder, Henry C. Welles, died five weeks after he inaugurated that first Memorial Day in Waterloo in 1866\. However, Welles died on July 7, 1868, according to his gravestone and the Waterloo *Observer*, July 8, 1868\.[Obituary of Henry C. Welles, Waterloo Observer, July 8, 1868](https://images.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2017/22/162225541_1485224228.jpg) Bellware and Gardiner credit [Mary Ann Williams](/wiki/Mary_Ann_Williams "Mary Ann Williams") and the Ladies Memorial Association of Columbus, Georgia, as the true originators of the holiday as abundant contemporaneous evidence from across the nation exists to substantiate the claim.

In 2016, *VFW Magazine* featured an article by Doris Wolf in recognition of the 150th anniversary of Waterloo's Memorial Day observance. The editors added a note at the beginning of the article advising the readers of the existence of Bellware and Gardiner's book, that the Columbus, Georgia event of April 26, 1866 predated the Waterloo event by nine days and that the article on Waterloo was being presented to provoke historical inquiry.

In 2019, the hoax was further explored (and exposed) by author Marshall S. Berdan in Welles’ hometown of Glastonbury, CT. His article in *The* *Glastonbury Citizen* recounts Berdan’s disenchantment with the story after the staff of Waterloo’s [National Memorial Day Museum](/wiki/National_Memorial_Day_Museum "National Memorial Day Museum") was unable to provide the definitive evidence he sought prior to the placement of a plaque honoring Welles in Glastonbury. It also mentions some of Berdan's own research used to debunk the myth.


How can we distinguish between accurate and fabricated historical accounts?