When I served at Saint Luke’s in Baton Rouge, I learned that Independence Day became an annual commemoration in Vicksburg, Mississippi, only after World War II. This town surrendered to the Union Army on July 4, 1863.[1] In seminary, I remember being surprised when I learned that the 1789 and the 1892 American Prayer Books made no provision for a commemoration of Independence Day. I suspect something similar was at work with the introduction of Labor Day to the Prayer Book.
Read more