Somewhere among the 27 acres of Kansas City’s Union Cemetery lie the remains of 15 Confederate soldiers.  The men died while held as prisoners of war in Kansas City after the Battle of Westport.  Although their gravesites are unknown, the U.S. government erected a granite obelisk to commemorate the soldiers in 1911. Numerous veterans from the Revolutionary War to the Vietnam War are also buried in the cemetery, as are many prominent 19th century Kansas City residents. In 1849, a cholera epidemic hit the Missouri towns of Westport and Kansas (now Kansas City).  With the towns’ respective cemeteries near capacity, they decided to form a “union” and establish a new cemetery between the municipalities.  The Missouri state legislature authorized a corporation, which eventually selected a 49-acre site between the two towns for Union Cemetery.

Westport, located south of Kansas City, became an important disembarkation point for travelers heading west along the Santa Fe, Oregon, and California trails.  Its location and trail status also made the town a target during the Civil War.  Because Missouri was a border state, the Confederacy considered the capture of Missouri a critical goal.  In October 1864, Confederate forces raided several towns in Kansas and Missouri.  Confederate and Union forces met in Westport on October 23, 1864.  More than 30,000 soldiers and cavalrymen fought in the battle, making it one of the largest confrontations west of the Mississippi River.  Union troops forced the Confederate raiders into retreat, preventing Confederate control over Missouri.

In 1897, Kansas City annexed Westport.  By the early 20th century, conditions in Union Cemetery declined, forcing the cemetery’s management association to sell off 18 undeveloped acres of the property.  In 1937, the association transferred ownership to the municipal government of Kansas City.  Today, the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department manages the cemetery.

In 1911, the U.S. government erected a 15-foot-tall granite obelisk as a memorial to 15 Confederate prisoners of war buried in Union Cemetery.  Union troops captured the soldiers during the Battle of Westport. Originally buried in another city cemetery, the remains were later reinterred in Union Cemetery.  However, the exact location of the gravesites was lost. Because individual grave markers could not be erected, the obelisk to the 15 men was installed on the cemetery’s grounds.  The dedication ceremony on October 22, 1911, featured an invocation by a local reverend and a speech by the Kansas City mayor. The bronze panels on the obelisk carry inscriptions that list the soldiers and explain the unknown whereabouts of their graves.

Many prominent Kansas City residents were also interred at Union Cemetery, including veterans from the War of 1812 and later conflicts. Civil War veteran and Missouri artist George Caleb Bingham is interred in the eastern section of the cemetery.