Oakwood Cemetery is a large, city-owned burial ground in the

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. It holds over 48,000 graves, including many soldiers from the Civil War.

History

The City of Richmond purchased land in 1799 for the main purpose of establishing a municipal burying ground. The

Shockoe Hill Cemetery The Shockoe Hill Cemetery is a historic cemetery located on Shockoe Hill in Richmond, Virginia. History Shockoe Hill Cemetery, as it is presently called, was established in 1820, with the initial burial made in 1822. It was earlier known as the ...

was established on those grounds in 1820. When space became scarce for new burials, the city responded by expanding the burying ground with the addition of 14 acres in 1850. Five of those acres were added to the walled Shockoe Hill Cemetery for white interments, and the remainder was added to the portion of the burying ground there located outside of the walls, reserved for the interment of people of colour and the enslaved (that portion of the burying ground was established in 1816). The city further responded by buying two tracts of land in what was then

Henrico County Henrico County , officially the County of Henrico, is located in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 334,389 making it the fifth-most populous county in Virginia. Henrico County is incl ...

in 1854, totaling . In early March 1855 the Committee on the Oakwood Cemetery and its Superintendent were ready to receive applications for interment of white persons who did not wish to buy a section, and for persons of color. In May 1855 it was reported that portion of ground intended for colored burials was ready, and a number of interments had already been made in it. The Oakwood Cemetery Committee was a standing committee of the Richmond City Council. In 1861, Richmond was named the capital of the new

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

. After the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

broke out, the city's hospitals and clinics received a large number of critically wounded soldiers. The City Council agreed to provide interment for soldiers who died in Richmond or Henrico County, and in July 1862 offered to have Oakwood Cemetery opened for large scale burial of Confederate soldiers, and set aside a separate section of the grounds for this purpose. Soldiers Monument Oakwood Cemetery Richmond Virginia 1911

Soldiers Monument Oakwood Cemetery Richmond Virginia 1911

Oakwood Cemetery was set as the final resting place of soldiers who died in treatment at

Chimborazo Hospital Chimborazo Hospital was a American Civil War, Civil War-era facility built in Richmond in the American Civil War, Richmond, Virginia to service the medical needs of the Confederate Army. It functioned between 1862 and 1865 in what is now Chimbo ...

, a massive facility on Church Hill. By the end of the war, the Confederate section of the cemetery covered about and contained around 17,000 burials. The

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

passed a resolution in 1866, a year after the war's end, providing for the creation of a system of national cemeteries for the interment of veterans and war dead. The resolution also called, controversially, for the removal of Union war dead and re-interment in the new national cemeteries. The Richmond National Cemetery received the remains of 5,896 Union Soldiers from 09/01/1866 – 09/30/1867. Of that number, 1,432 were re-interments of soldiers originally interred in Oakwood Cemetery.Statement of the disposition of some of the bodies of deceased Union soldiers and prisoners of war whose remains have been removed to national cemeteries in the Southern and Western States. Volume IV
Washington Government Printing Office, 1868. Oakwood Cemetery today covers about of ground, and continues to be maintained by the City of Richmond and various charitable trusts.

Notable burials

Ulric Dahlgren Ulric Dahlgren (April 3, 1842 – March 2, 1864) was a colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was the son of Union Navy Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren and nephew to Confederate Brigadier General Charles G. Dahlgren. He ...

(1842–1864), Union Army Colonel *

Reddy Foster Oscar E. "Reddy" Foster (August 1864 – December 19, 1908) was a Major League Baseball (MLB) player for the New York Giants in 1896. His only MLB appearance was on June 3 of that season. He primarily played catcher in his minor league career, wh ...

(1864–1908), MLB catcher for the New York Giants

References

External links

*
Restore Oakwood

Richmond Parks & Recreation Cemeteries List

Stereograph of Confederate Graves April–June 1865

* ttp://www.mdgorman.com/Hospitals/hospital_index.htm List of Confederate Hospitals in Richmond, VA, during the Civil War* * {{coord, 37.5349492, -77.3969147, format=dms, source:GNIS Cemeteries in Richmond, Virginia Confederate States of America cemeteries 1854 establishments in Virginia

History

Notable burials

See also

References

External links