 Iowa In the Civil War |
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GENERAL ORDERS} QUARTERMASTER GENERAL'S OFFICE
NO -- } Washington, D. C., June 11, 1869.
The following Roll of Honor, prepared in this office by Brevet Brigadier General Alex. J. Perry, quartermaster United States Army, containing the record of 23,016 deceased Union soldiers interred in the national cemeteries at Memphis, Tennessee, and Chalmette, (near New Orleans,) Louisiana, is published by authority of the Secretary of War for the information of their surviving friends and comrades.
M. C. MEIGS
Quartermaster General
Brevet Major General U.S. Army
It contains 38 acres, and is inclosed by a wood picket fence. The arrangement of burials of known dead is by States, the dead of the United States army and navy occupying sections by themselves. The grounds are neatly laid out with graveled walks and drives. A portion of the cemetery is shaded by forest trees, a large number of which have been left standing; and throughout the cleared portion, and along the borders of the drives, young trees have been extensively planted. The site for this cemetery was selected by a board of officers consisting of Chaplain Wm. E. Earnshaw, Brevet Lieutenant Col. A. W. Wills, assistant quartermaster, and Brevet Major G. W. Marshall, assistant quartermaster. In the center of the monumental site a heavy gunboat mortar has been mounted, and four large-siege guns, mounted upon stone pedestals, have been set as monuments in different portions of the cemetery. A fine flag-staff with shrouds and top-mast has been erected at a conspicuous point near the entrance. A comfortable lodge for the accommodation of the keeper stands near the main gate. The designation of "Mississippi River National Cemetery" has been applied to this cemetery, in recognition of the fact that by far the largest portion of the burials are of those originally interred at various points on the banks of the Mississippi River from Hickman, Kentucky, to Helena, Arkansas, including New Madrid, Island No. 10 and Fort Pillow. The whole number interred , as will be seen from the recapitulation, is 13, 962, of which 9,754 are white and 4,208 colored. Thirty-two States and organizations are represented, and 537 regiments. The victims of the Fort Pillow massacre, and those who subsequently died in the occupancy of that fort, have all been removed to this cemetery and buried by themselves in what is called the Fort Pillow section. The total number so removed is 248. Of the 34 known names in this list only three are names of victims of the massacre, and all efforts to obtain a list of the names of others have been thus far unsuccessful. The post office address of the superintendent of this cemetery is Memphis, Tennessee.
* Indicates a discrepancy between the Roll of Honor and The Iowa Roster and Records of Iowa Soldiers in the War of the Rebellion. I recognize the difference, but have no way of knowing which (if either) is correct.
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This cemetery is situated on the Gallatin pike, six miles from Nashville, Tennessee, and is intersected by the Louisville and Nashville railroad, which divides it into nearly equal parts. It comprises about fifty-eight acres of beautifully undulating ground, a part of which is covered with a grove of stately forest trees. The avenues, nearly four miles in extent are macadamized and graveled so as to form pleasant and delightful drives. A natural rivulet running through the grounds has been widened and deepened, and neatly walled up to form an outlet for drainage, as well as to serve as an ornamental water-course. The whole grounds are surrounded by a substantial picket fence.
The total number of dead interred in the cemetery is sixteen thousand four hundred and eighty-six, of which twelve thousand four hundred are known, and three thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine are unknown. Of white soldiers there are fourteen thousand five hundred and seventy-seven, and of colored one thousand nine hundred and nine. The number of regiments represented is seven hundred and thirty, and of states and independent organizations thirty-one.
The bodies interred in this cemetery have been gathered from an extensive region of country, along the Cumberland River from Carthage on the east to Clarksville on the west; from the line of the Louisville and Nashville railroad as far as Mumfordsville, Kentucky; from the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad to the tennessee River at Johnsonville; from the Edgefield and Kentucky and the Memphis branch of the Louisville and Nashville railroad; from Bowling Green to Clarksville; from the Nashville and Chattanooga railroad to Lavergne; and from all intermediate and adjacent country; from the Nashville battle-field, and many of the skirmish grounds in Southern Kentucky, comprising those originally collected and buried at Tompkinsville.
The number of distinct burial places from which these bodies were taken is two hundred and fifty-one. A very large proportion of the dead in this cemetery, however, were transferred from the hospital burial grounds in and around the city of Nashville.
A full and complete record of all interments in this cemetery, together with a complete copy of all burial sheets, has been deposited at the cemetery for the information of friends and visitors.
Plats of the cemetery, showing the arrangements of the grounds and the precise location of each grave, with the number to each, will be found on deposit in the office of the Quartermaster General, at Washington, and also a duplicate copy of the burial sheets.
Persons desiring to visit this cemetery can reach it by railroad from Louisville or Nashville, stopping at the Madison station, or by private conveyance from Nashville over the Gallatin pike.
The superintendent in charge of this cemetery may be addressed through the Nashville post office.
| No. | Name | Rank | Co. | Date of Death | Sec. | No. of Grave |
Original Place of Interment |
| 3838 | Peterson, Abraham | Pvt. | B | Dec. 7, 1864 | E | 2741 | Nashville, Tenn. |
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