Origin In mid-May 2021, Snopes became aware of numerous online searches to determine whether laws in some U.S. states designate a legal holiday to honor the Confederacy or Confederate soldiers who fought during the Civil War. When we looked into the matter, we found that this is true. As of spring 2021, official calendars for a handful of states still memorialize the 11 Southern states that temporarily seceded from the U.S. to try to maintain slavery, or the some 290,000 Confederate troops who died fighting the failed separationists’ cause. The state-sanctioned holidays, which occur annually throughout January and June, spur events ranging from ceremonies to place flags and wreaths on Confederate soldiers’ graves to re-enactments of Civil War battles.