State offices will be closed Monday as Alabama marks Confederate Memorial Day.

Only three states have official holidays honoring those who died in the Civil War. Alabama celebrates the day on the fourth Monday in April, while Mississippi’s commemoration takes place on the last Monday of the month, this year falling on April 29. South Carolina celebrates Confederate Memorial Day on May 10.

Several other Southern states have Confederate Memorial Day designations but do not declare them as official holidays.

Alabama’s designation means state offices and courts, including license and car tag offices, will be closed on April 22. Most city and county offices and courts will be open.

Alabama has three Confederate-related holidays: Robert E. Lee's birthday on third Monday in January (celebrated along with birthday of civil rights leader Martin Luther King); Confederate Memorial Day on fourth Monday in April; and birthday of Confederate President Jefferson Davis on the first Monday in June.

Confederate Memorial Day traces its roots back to 1866 when the Ladies Memorial Association of Columbus, Georgia passed a resolution to set aside a day to honor Confederate soldiers who lost their lives in the Civil War. Almost 260,000 Civil War soldiers were killed in the line of duty.

The holiday is typically observed in late April to mark the surrender of the last major Confederate field army at Bennett Place on April 26, 1865.