Culpeper National Cemetery is a
United States National Cemetery
The United States National Cemetery System is a system of 164 cemeteries in the United States and its territories. The authority to create military burial places came during the American Civil War, in an act passed by the U.S. Congress o ...
located in the town of
Culpeper, in
Culpeper County, Virginia
Culpeper County is a county located along the borderlands of the northern and central region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 52,552. Its county seat and only incorporated community is Culp ...
. Administered by the
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers a ...
, it encompasses of land, and as 2021, had over 14,000 interments.
History
During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, the territory around the city of Culpeper was defended vigorously by both sides, as it was a strategic point almost exactly between
Washington D.C.
)
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
and the capital of the
Confederacy,
Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
, image_map =
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, pushpin_label = Richmond
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. Numerous battles took place in the region, including the
Battle of Cedar Mountain
The Battle of Cedar Mountain, also known as Slaughter's Mountain or Cedar Run, took place on August 9, 1862, in Culpeper County, Virginia, as part of the American Civil War. Union forces under Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks attacked Confederate f ...
and the
Battle of Chancellorsville
The Battle of Chancellorsville, April 30 – May 6, 1863, was a major battle of the American Civil War (1861–1865), and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville campaign.
Chancellorsville is known as Lee's "perfect battle" because h ...
. The dead from those conflicts were buried nearby in makeshift grave sites. After the war a reburial program was initiated, and in 1867, Culpeper National Cemetery was established to reinter many of the remains from the makeshift sites.
[
]
The original cemetery comprised , bought from Edward B. Hill of Culpeper for
$1,400. The original
Second Empire Victorian caretakers lodge was built in 1872 and was designed by
Montgomery C. Meigs
Montgomery Cunningham Meigs (; May 3, 1816 – January 2, 1892) was a career United States Army officer and civil engineer, who served as Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army during and after the American Civil War. Meigs strongly opposed sece ...
. Many improvements to the grounds and facilities at the cemetery were made during the 1930s as part of the
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
. These
make-work
A make-work job is a job that has less immediate financial or little benefit at all to the economy than the job costs to support. It may also have no benefit. Make-work jobs are similar to workfare, but are publicly offered on the job market and h ...
improvements included replacing the original 1870s tool house at the cost of $8,000 in 1934, raising and realigning 912 headstones in May 1934, by the
Civil Works Administration
The Civil Works Administration (CWA) was a short-lived job creation program established by the New Deal during the Great Depression in the United States to rapidly create mostly manual-labor jobs for millions of unemployed workers. The jobs were ...
, and realignment and re-setting 402 headstones in 1936 though a
Works Project Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
project.
[
Having operated without any major improvements since the 1930s, the cemetery was closed to new interments on November 17, 1972. On September 1, 1973, administration of the cemetery was transferred from the U.S. Army to the Veterans Administration's new National Cemetery System created by the National Cemetery Act of 1973. In 1975 another was donated by the ]Veterans of Foreign Wars
The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), formally the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, is an organization of US war veterans, who, as military service members fought in wars, campaigns, and expeditions on foreign land, waters, or a ...
, Burton–Hammond Post 2524,[ and in 2001 another plot of was purchased, which has been developed for future interments. The cemetery was reopened to interments on January 16, 1978.][
Culpeper National Cemetery was listed in the ]National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1996.[ It is included in the ]South East Street Historic District
South East Street Historic District is a national historic district located at Culpeper, Culpeper County, Virginia. It encompasses 76 contributing buildings in a residential section of the town of Culpeper. The earliest houses date to the 1830s ...
.
American Nazi Party
The American Nazi Party (ANP) is an American far-right and neo-Nazi political party founded by George Lincoln Rockwell and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The organization was originally named the World Union of Free Enterprise National ...
founder George Lincoln Rockwell
George Lincoln Rockwell (March 9, 1918 – August 25, 1967) was an American far-right political activist and founder of the American Nazi Party. He later became a major figure in the neo-Nazi movement in the United States, and his beliefs, st ...
, who had served in the US Navy until his discharge in 1960, was to be buried at the cemetery after his assassination in 1967 but the cemetery refused to inter him after neo-nazis who attended the service displayed Nazi insignia. Rockwell was later cremated instead.
Notable monuments
* The states of Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania have erected markers dedicated to regiments from those states who had members die in the Battle of Cedar Mountain
The Battle of Cedar Mountain, also known as Slaughter's Mountain or Cedar Run, took place on August 9, 1862, in Culpeper County, Virginia, as part of the American Civil War. Union forces under Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks attacked Confederate f ...
.
** The Maine monument is of granite construction and is dedicated to the 22 officers and soldiers from the 10th Maine Volunteer Infantry who died at Cedar Mountain.
** The Massachusetts monument was erected by members of the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry in 1893.[
** The New York monument was erected in 1902 to honor the members of the 28th New York Volunteer Infantry, 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 12th Corps, Army Corps of the Potomac who died at Cedar Mountain.][
** The Ohio monument is of granite and bronze construction and was erected by the 7th Ohio Regimental Association.][
** The Pennsylvania monument was erected in 1910.][
* The Armed Forces Monument was erected November 1992 and was sponsored by the American Legion Post 330 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2524. The monument was officially dedicated May 28, 2001.][
* A memorial to all of the unknown burials from the Civil War was erected in 1988 by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Burton–Hammond Post 2524.
* The seven and a half feet tall National Military Cemetery monument constructed from a cast iron seacoast artillery tube.][
]
Gallery
Image:Seventh Ohio Regimental Association Memorial at Culpeper National Cemetery.JPG, Seventh Ohio Regimental Association Memorial
Image:Second Massachusetts Infantry Memorial at Culpeper National Cemetery.JPG, Memorial erected by the Second Massachusetts Infantry
Image:Cannon Marker Culpeper National Cemetery.JPG, A National Military Cemetery monument
Image:National Military Cemetery Culpepper Marker.JPG, Close-up of plaque on the National Military Cemetery monument
Image:Twenty-eighth Regiment New York Volunteer Infantry Memorial at Culpeper National Cemetery.JPG, Twenty-eighth Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry Memorial
Image:Pennsylvania Memorial at Culpeper National Cemetery.JPG, Pennsylvania Memorial undergoing restoration
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to:
* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage
** Audio restoration
** Film restoration
** Image restoration
** Textile restoration
* Restoration ecology
...
in 2010
Image:Main Volunteer Infantry Memorial at Culpeper National Cemetery.JPG, Tenth Maine Volunteer Infantry Memorial
Image:Veterans of Foreign Wars Plaque at Culpeper National Cemetery Commemorating Unknown Civil War Dead.JPG, Plaque commemorating unknown Civil War reinterments in sections C and D, erected in 1988
References
External links
National Cemetery Administration
Culpeper National Cemetery
*
*
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{{National Register of Historic Places in Virginia
Historic American Landscapes Survey in Virginia
Second Empire architecture in Virginia
1866 establishments in Virginia
Cemeteries in Culpeper County, Virginia
Protected areas of Culpeper County, Virginia
United States national cemeteries
Virginia in the American Civil War
National Register of Historic Places in Culpeper County, Virginia
Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia
Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Virginia