Mr. Green: There is no officially prescribed, "legal" Confederate Memorial Day here in Arizona, or in New Mexico, either. The various Confederate organizations (Sons of Confederate Veterans and United Daughters of the Confederacy) all choose their own dates on which to commemorate this. In general the organizations here in Arizona all agree that April 26 (the date most often chosen as the official Confederate Memorial Day in the Southern States) is our "official" Confederate Memorial Day, and the UDC Chapter and SCV Camp in Tucson do hold a joint cermony on that date. However, to avoid conflicts with ceremonies held by other organizations (and so we can all attend each other's ceremonies), we hold the ceremonies on weekends before and after April 26. The only exception to this is the Confederate Memorial Day ceremony held by the Arizona Division, SCV, which is held at the site of the Battle of Dragoon Springs, where Arizona's only Confederate battle dead are buried. The men buried there were killed in battle with Apaches on 5 May 1862, so the Arizona Division (as opposed to the various Camps, which use the 26 April date) has chosen May 5 as its "official" Confederate Memorial Day, and its ceremony is held on the Saturday which falls closest to that date.

I hope this info is helpful.

Robert Perkins, Past Commander
Arizona Division, SCV

--- James W Green III  wrote:
> Has AZ selected an annual day for Confederate 
> Memorial Day?  Was it approved by the state 
> legislature?  
> 
> It is confusing to look at the web.  There are many 
> pages that talk of celebrating Confederate Memorial 
> Day in a state, but the celebration is often not on 
> CS Memorial Day but rather the Saturday closest to 
> CS Memorial Day.  Here in SC Memorial Day is 10 
> May, but we will celebrate this year in Columbia SC 
> on Sat. 4 May which is not the closest Saturday.  
> 
> Has NM selected an annual day for Confederate 
> Memorial Day?  Was it approved by the state 
> legislature?  
> --
> James W. Green III/285 Agnew Rd/Winnsboro SC 29180
> CSA
> home: 803-635-9236 
> http://members.FortuneCity.Com/jgreen
> http://Genealogy.Org/~green & working on: 
> http://freepages.genealogy.RootsWeb.Com/~jwg3