Confederate Heroes Day 2026

Confederate Memorial Day in Texas is also called Confederate Heroes Day. Just as in other states, the observance is connected with commemorating all of the Confederate soldiers who died during the Civil War.

The history of Confederate Memorial Day dates back to year 1866 and the custom started by the Ladies Memorial Association. The idea of commemorating the end of the Civil War and all of those, who lost their lives in it, has spread quickly in other states. Texas has established Confederate Heroes Day in 1973. Since then, the holiday is celebrated annually on January 19 – a date far different from other Southern states. This is because the holiday also honors, among others, Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee – who was born on January 19, 1807. Sometimes Confederate Heroes Day also falls on Martin Luther King Day, which is observed on the third Monday of January. It is a state holiday, so most state offices are closed, and most employees get a day off.

In the previous years, however, Confederate Heroes Day started becoming a source of controversy. Some argue that such a holiday presents people who died defending slavery as heroes. In fact, the Civil War was about denying to recognize African-Americans as people. This is why some Americans do not consider it proper to celebrate it. There have been some suggestions that the holiday should be renamed, for example as "“Civil War Remembrance Day”, or even completely removed.

Did you know?

In the previous years in Texas some efforts have been made to stop commemorating Confederate soldiers as heroes. For example, the Texas Freedom Network demanded to stop glorifying them in public school history classrooms. Some monuments were also to be taken down because of their history distorting character.