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Fort Donelson National Battlefield
National Cemetery
National Cemetery

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National Cemetery

In 1863, the Union Army abandoned the Confederate works and constructed a new fortification on this site. A freedmen's community developed around the new Union fort. Four years later, this same site was selected for the establishment of the Fort Donelson National Cemetery and 670 Union soldiers were reinterred here. These soldiers (which included 512 unknowns) had been buried on the battlefield, in local cemeteries, in hospital cemeteries, and in nearby towns.
 
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These totals include five known and nine unknown soldiers from the United States Colored Troops. The high percentage of unknown soldiers can be attributed to the haste in cleaning up the battlefield and the fact that Civil War soldiers did not carry government-issued identification.

Today the national cemetery contains both Civil War veterans and veterans who have served the United States since that time. Many spouses and dependent children are also buried here.
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Did You Know?
Oakland plantation’s first cash crops were tobacco and indigo, followed by cotton in the 1800s. According to family tradition, the Prud’hommes were the first family west of the Mississippi River to farm cotton on a large scale.

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Last Updated: July 24, 2006 at 22:37 EST